Day: July 22, 2022

A police operation Thursday targeting gang members in Rio de Janeiro’s largest complex of favelas, or low-income communities, left at least 18 people dead in one of the deadliest raids the city has seen recently and one already bringing more criticism of police violence.

Rio authorities said 16 suspected criminals were killed in confrontations with police in Complexo do Alemao along with a police officer and an woman. A police spokesman said the raid targeted a criminal group that stole cars and robbed banks, and invaded nearby neighborhoods.

Videos circulating on social media showed intense shootouts between criminals as well as a police helicopter flying low over the small, brick houses. Rio’s police have used helicopters to shoot at targets, even in densely populated residential areas, and video showed shots being fired from the favela at the aircraft.

At the site of the raid, Associated Press reporters saw residents carrying about 10 bodies as bystanders shouted, “We want peace!” Residents said those who attempted to help the injured risked arrest.

“It’s a massacre inside, which police are calling an operation,” one woman told AP, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from authorities. ”They’re not letting us help (victims),” she added, saying she saw one man arrested for attempting to do so.

A Rio’s police force spokesman said some of the criminals wore uniforms to disguise themselves as police officers.

“I would rather they (the suspects) had not reacted and then we could have arrested 15, 14 of them. But unfortunately they chose to fire at our policemen,” said Ronaldo Oliveira, an investigator of Rio’s police.

Rio state Gov. Cláudio Castro said on Twitter he lamented the police officer’s death.

“I will continue to fight crime with all my strength. We will not back down from the mission of guaranteeing peace and security to the people of our state,” Castro said.

But many disagree with the government’s strategy for tackling violence and organized crime, an approach that regularly sees deadly police operations. A raid in Rio’s Vila Cruzeiro favela in May killed more than 20 people.

Thursday’s operation was aimed at locating and arresting criminal leaders, some from other states, police said in an early statement.

“ENOUGH of this genocidal policy, governor!” Talíria Petrone, a federal lawmaker for Rio, said in response to the governor’s tweet. “This failed public security policy leaves residents and police on the ground, en masse. It’s no longer possible to keep piling up Black bodies and favela residents every day!”

Alemao is a complex of 13 favelas in northern Rio, home to about 70,000 people. Nearly three-quarters of them are Afro-Brazilians, according to a July 2020 study published by the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economical Analyses.

Earlier this year, Brazil’s Supreme Court established a series of conditions for police to conduct raids in Rio’s favelas as a means to reduce police killings and violations of human rights. The court ordered that lethal force be used only in situations in which all other means have been exhausted and when necessary to protect life.

The ruling came in response to a raid on the Jacarezinho favela in 2021 that resulted in 28 people being killed. As was the case Thursday, an officer died during that raid, which some speculated at the time was the cause for subsequent abuse and summary executions.

Thursday’s operation began before dawn and finished around 4 p.m. local time, police said. Nearly 400 police officers were involved, including Rio’s tactical police unit, backed up by four helicopters and 10 bullet-proofed vehicles, according to the police statement.

In a video shared by Voz da Comunidade, a community news outlet focused on Rio’s favelas, residents can be seen calling for peace and waving white cloths from their windows and rooftops.

Fabrício Oliveira, one of the coordinators of the police raid, said authorities fear that Friday could be another violent day at the Complexo do Alemao.

“Our experience has told us that after raids like these police are attacked in every way,” Oliveira said.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Three people caught on video thrashing a disabled man in Bhola have been arrested, police said on Friday.

The arrestees have been identified as Taposh Mridha, Promila and Rina, all residents of Nomo village in Lalmohan upazila, said Md Maksudur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Lalmohan police station.

Police swung into action after the video of the incident went viral on social media.

In the video, the three people could be seen brutally beating up Joy Chandra Mistry with sticks after tying him to a pole inside a temple in Nomo village.

Joy had to endure the torture till his father rescued him and took him to upazila health complex. His only crime was that he had slapped one of Taposh’s relatives Thursday morning, following an argument, locals said.

A case has been filed in this regard after the victim’s father lodged a complaint against five people, said OC Maksudur Rahman.

Joy’s father Shyamol Chandra Mistry said, “They have tortured my son many times in the past as he is disabled and we are poor. I demand justice for my son.”

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A 25-year-old tourist drowned and two others sustained injuries while bathing in the Nikli haor in Kishoreganj on Friday morning.

The deceased was identified as Akash, a resident of Dhaka.

Fire service sources said the three youths went missing while bathing in the haor around 9am.

On information, firefighters and locals fished out the body of Akash and rescued Tuhin, 25, and Hasib, 26 alive.

“The injured youths are undergoing treatment at Nikli upazila health complex,” said Abujar Gifari, station officer of Kishoreganj Fire Service.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

The United Nations’ highest court is ruling Friday on whether to proceed with a landmark case that accuses Myanmar’s rulers of genocide against the country’s mainly Muslim Rohingya minority.

The International Court of Justice is set to deliver its decision on Myanmar’s claims that the Hague-based court does not have jurisdiction and that the case filed by the tiny African nation of Gambia in 2019 is inadmissible.

If judges reject Myanmar’s objections, they will set the stage for court hearings airing evidence of atrocities against the Rohingya that rights groups and a U.N. probe say amount to breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. In March, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that violent repression of the Rohingya population in Myanmar amounts to genocide.

Amid international outrage at the treatment of the Rohingya, Gambia filed the case with the world court alleging that Myanmar is breaching the genocide convention. The nation argued that both Gambia and Myanmar are parties to the convention and that all signatories have a duty to ensure it is enforced.

Lawyers representing Myanmar argued in February that the case should be tossed out because the world court only hears cases between states and the Rohingya complaint was brought by Gambia on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

They also claimed that Gambia could not bring the case to court as it was not directly linked to the events in Myanmar and that a legal dispute did not exist between the two countries before the case was filed.

Gambia’s Attorney General and Justice Minister Dawda Jallow insisted in February that the case should go ahead and that it was brought by his country, not the OIC.

“We are no one’s proxy,” Jallow told the court.

The Netherlands and Canada are backing Gambia, saying in 2020 that the country “took a laudable step towards ending impunity for those committing atrocities in Myanmar and upholding this pledge. Canada and the Netherlands consider it our obligation to support these efforts which are of concern to all of humanity.”

Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine state in 2017 in the aftermath of an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh and Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands of homes.

In 2019, lawyers representing Gambia at the ICJ outlined their allegations of genocide by showing judges maps, satellite images and graphic photos of the military campaign. That led the court to order Myanmar to do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya. The interim ruling was intended to protect the minority while the case is decided in The Hague, a process likely to take years.

The ICJ case was complicated by last year’s military coup in Myanmar. The decision to allow the Southeast Asian nation’s military-installed government to represent the country at the February hearings drew sharp criticism. A shadow administration known as the National Unity Government made up of representatives including elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking their seats by the 2021 military coup had argued that it should be representing Myanmar in court.

The International Court of Justice rules on disputes between states. It is not linked to the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, which holds individuals accountable for atrocities. Prosecutors at the ICC are investigating crimes committed against the Rohingya who were forced to flee to Bangladesh.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

At least 18 people were killed on Thursday during a police raid targeting a crime group at the Almao favelas in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, police reported.

Among the dead were a 50-year-old woman, who was hit by a stray bullet during the raid, and a police officer, police spokesman Ivan Blaz said at a press conference.

Four suspects accused of killing police officers were arrested during the operation, in which 400 officers were involved and supported by four helicopters and 10 armored vehicles.

Blaz described the situation in the region as “very tense,” saying that the criminal ring had expanded from drug trafficking to robbing cargo trucks entering the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The dragnet aimed to locate and arrest the gang members, who planned to enter other favelas Thursday to carry out vehicle thefts, Lieutenant Colonel Uira do Nascimento Ferreira of the Special Operations Battalion of the militarized police in Rio said at the press conference. ¦

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Kamalapur railway police have again prevented Mohiuddin Roni from entering the station by blocking the main gate of the station.

Contacted, Roni said, “Railway police blocked the main gate of Kamalapur to restrict me from entering the station.”

“I have decided to continue the programme at front yard of the main gate,” he added.

Earlier in the week, Kamalapur railway police allegedly abused them and injured them when Mohiuddin Roni and his fellow protesters tried to enter the station to take position demanding six points.

Around 7 pm yesterday, Mohiuddin Roni and his friends took sitting programme at Shahabag demanding the justice of violation his citizen right but latet around 9.30 pm, he postponed the sitting programme saying that he will continue it at Kamalapur railway Station.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A 16-year old named Ayman Mohammad from Chattogram has made it to Guinness World Book of records by stacking most coins into a tower within a minute.

“Ayman Mohammad from Bangladesh achieved the record of stacking most, 75, coins in one minute on March 17, 2022,” according to the website of www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

Ayman is a Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinee of Parbati Model High School in Hathazari Upazila this year and son of Md Musa .”I started practicing coin stacking to attempt the record motivated by my friends and family after knowing about the record from social media,” he told UNB.

Ayman broke the previous record of stacking 71 coins into a tower in a minute held by another Bangladeshi, Nusrat Jahan Nipa, from Barishal.

“After a long preparation when I perfected the skill, I applied to break the previous record on February 25, this year through the official website of Guinness World Book of Records. On March 17 they approved my application and asked to send the video which I did following their instruction. On June 12 they announced the result through mail,” said Ayman.

The authority has also told Ayman that he will get the certificate for breaking the world record within a few months.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader has said the BNP is desperate to grab state power, and by any means.

“BNP has actually become desperate to capture power by any means, though the election is imminent. It is engaged in ill-attempts to make election and democracy questionable,” Quader said in a statement Friday.

Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, said BNP should understand that one cannot come to power in a democratic system by giving rhetorical statements without doing anything for the people.

He said BNP is not able to present any specific plan before the people to win the next parliamentary election. “BNP leaders continue to give misleading speeches and statements before the nation,” he added.

The AL general secretary said the people of the country have successfully faced all the crises under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina for more than a decade. But BNP leaders have been constantly making blatant lies and giving provocative statements to thwart the united efforts of the people to deal with the existing crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, he claimed.

“BNP has become a pessimistic political party failing to gain the people’s trust. So, BNP leaders are constantly playing a joke with the nation by telling stories of despair,” he said.

Qauder said BNP leaders want to damage the self-confidence of the country’s people by comparing Bangladesh with Sri Lanka often. They want to achieve their political interests by spreading confusion among the people of the country, he said.

Noting that the basic foundations of the two economies are different, he said, “There is no way to compare Bangladesh and Sri Lanka equally.”

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Judges at the United Nations’ highest court on Friday dismissed preliminary objections by Myanmar to a case alleging the Southeast Asian nation is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority.

The decision establishing the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction sets the stage for hearings airing evidence of atrocities against the Rohingya that human rights groups and a U.N. probe say breach the 1948 Genocide Convention. In March, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the violent repression of the Rohingya population in Myanmar, which formerly was known as Burma, amounts to genocide.

Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, welcomed the decision, saying 600,000 Rohingya “are still facing genocide,” while “one million people in Bangladesh camps, they are waiting for a hope for justice.”

The African nation of Gambia filed the case in 2019 amid international outrage at the treatment of the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid a brutal crackdown by Myanmar forces in 2017. It argued that both Gambia and Myanmar were parties to the 1948 convention and that all signatories hade a duty to ensure it was enforced.

Judges at the court agreed.

Reading a summary of the decision, the court’s president, U.S. Judge Joan E. Donoghue, said: “Any state party to the Genocide Convention may invoke the responsibility of another state party including through the institution of proceedings before the court.”

A small group of pro-Rohingya protesters gathered outside the court’s headquarters, the Peace Palace, ahead of the decision with a banner reading: “”Speed up delivering justice to Rohingya. The genocide survivors can’t wait for generations.”

One protester stamped on a large photograph of Myanmar’s military government leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

The court rejected arguments raised at hearings in February by lawyers representing Myanmar that the case should be tossed out because the world court only rules in disputes between states and the Rohingya complaint was brought by Gambia on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The judges also dismissed Myanmar’s claim that Gambia could not file the case as it was not directly linked to the events in Myanmar and that a legal dispute did not exist between the two countries before the case was filed.

Myanmar’s representative, Ko Ko Hlaing, the military government’s minister for international cooperation, said his nation “will try our utmost to defend our country and to protect our national interest.”

Gambia’s attorney general and justice minister, Dawda Jallow, said: “We are very pleased that justice has been done.”

The Netherlands and Canada have backed Gambia, saying in 2020 that the country “took a laudable step towards ending impunity for those committing atrocities in Myanmar and upholding this pledge. Canada and the Netherlands consider it our obligation to support these efforts which are of concern to all of humanity.”

Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine state in 2017 in the aftermath of an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands of Rohingya homes.

In 2019, lawyers representing Gambia at the ICJ outlined their allegations of genocide by showing judges maps, satellite images and graphic photos of the military campaign. That led the court to order Myanmar to do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya. The interim ruling was intended to protect the minority while the case is decided in The Hague, a process likely to take years.

The International Court of Justice rules on disputes between states. It is not linked to the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, which holds individuals accountable for atrocities. Prosecutors at the ICC are investigating crimes committed against the Rohingya who were forced to flee to Bangladesh.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Bangladesh has welcomed the judgment delivered by the UN’s top court on the preliminary objections of Myanmar concerning the application or admissibility of the Genocide Convention in the case between The Gambia and Myanmar.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment rejected all four preliminary objections of Myanmar on legal and procedural grounds, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said Friday.

“Bangladesh maintains that the question of international justice and accountability will be critical in finding a durable solution to the Rohingya crisis.”

It would also prove to be a confidence-building measure for the sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya to their homes in Myanmar with their legitimate rights restored, MoFA said.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A 29-year-old sailor, working as a captain in a private ship died of electrocution in Bagatipara upazila of Natore District on Friday noon.

The deceased was identified as Akram Hossain Babu, originally from Panchuria village of the upazila.

Quoting family members, police said Babu came in contact with a live electric wire while trying to connect the electricity to the water pump.

Family members rescued him and took him to the upazila health complex where doctors declared him dead.

Bagatipara police station officer-in-charge Sirajul Islam confirmed the matter to UNB.

Source: United News of Bangladesh