Month: October 2020

The Bangladesh Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday approved a legal amendment to elevate the maximum punishment in rape cases to death from life imprisonment. Following the Cabinet’s approval of the proposed amendment, titled the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, President Abdul Hamid is likely to issue an ordinance as Parliament is not in session, said Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam. The approval comes in the wake of protests staged by different organisations at Dhaka’s Shahbagh square and other parts of the country against sexual assaults on a woman in Noakhali and the rape of another woman in Sylhet’s MC College. "The ordinance will be issued tomorrow,” says Law Minister Anisul Huq.

In an attempt to defuse the simmering tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Corps commander-level talks between India and China were held on October 12. Ut is being learnt that the Indian side focussed on the complete disengagement of Chinese troops from the banks of the Pangong Tso lake and other friction points in Ladakh and insisted on the restoration of status quo ante of April. The meeting of the top Indian and Chinese military representatives lasted for more than 11 hours. Both the delegation met began in Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Meanwhile, the chances of early resolution to the Ladakh standoff appeared dim as around 1,00,000 Indian and Chinese tropps remain stationed in the region. India has bolstered its positions on criti...

Nigerian protesters have promised to keep up their campaign seeking justice for victims of police brutality and an overhaul of the security apparatus, even as authorities announced the immediate disbanding of a notorious anti-robbery unit that has long been accused of grave human rights abuses. Sparked by the alleged killing of a man by an officer in southern Nigeria, thousands of people this week took to the streets across the country to protest against police brutality and demand the complete abolition of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Many more used the #EndSARS hashtag online to share stories alleging extortion, torture, disappearances and even murders at the hands of members of the unit. The right to protest is enshrined in Nigerian law, but protest movements are reg...

Palestinian Maher al-Akhras is severely ill and at risk of death after 77 days of continuous hunger strike to protest his detention by Israel without charge or trial. Al-Akhras, 49, is from the occupied West Bank town of Silat al-Dahr, near Jenin. He is married and has six children. Israel has jailed him repeatedly and he has spent a total of five years in its prisons. Israeli forces arrested him again on 27 July and placed him in administrative detention for four months – which can be renewed indefinitely. Israel’s use of administrative detention is a direct continuation of a British colonial practice, and according to prisoners rights group Addameer may amount to a war crime as it deprives prisoners of their right to a fair trial. Administrative detainees are held on suppose...