Following a film screening of “The Whistleblower,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a panel discussion on sexual exploitation and abuse in conflict and post-conflict situations. The filmmaker and senior UN officials addressed issues raised in the film, including human trafficking and forced prostitution as well as the Organization’s effort to combat sexual exploitation of women and children.

One of the electoral pledges that led to Awami League’s landslide victory in the 2008 election has been the trial of war criminals. Amongst much anticipation, the government finally amended the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Act 1973 in 2009 and set up the tribunal in March 25, 2010. Although seven suspects have been arrested, till date, for crimes under ICT, they are yet to be tried. Meanwhile, the other major political party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its main ally Jamaat-e-Islami are vehemently …

A special tribunal here yesterday sentenced six activists of banned Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad (Huji) to prison in four separate cases.
The convicts are Shamsul Islam Mollah, 48, of Narsingdi district, Musa Miah, 28, of B`baria town, Maulana Hedayetullah, 30, and Saiful Islam Sajib alias Saifullah of Sarail upazila, Jamal Miah, 24, of Nasirnagar uapzila and Mizanur Rahman, 21, of Ashuganj uapzila.
Of them, Shamsul Islam Mollah and Hedayetullah were awarded 14 years rigorous imprisonment in an arms case filed with Brahmanbaria Sadar Police …

A Dhaka court yesterday issued an arrest warrant against Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini, chairman of a faction of Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), in connection with a sedition case.
The court passed the order after Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Lalbagh Police Station Selim-uz-Zaman, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet before the court and appealed to issue an arrest warrant against Amini.
OC Azizul Haq of the police station on August 11 filed the case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court against …

Police yesterday arrested former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury on charges of September 19 vandalism and assaulting police personnel in Chittagong.
Syed Nurul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of police, told The Daily Star that the Ramna police picked up Shahjahan, former MP of Satkania in Chittagong, around 3:30pm in front of the High Court in the capital.
Shahjahan, also a Majlish-e-Shura member of Jamaat’s central committee, was on his way to the court to arrange bail in cases filed for violence that left at least …

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the Bangladesh government to ensure that media outlets are able to exercise freedom of the press and that NGOs have theopportunity to be a vibrant contributor to the future of the country, reports UNB.
Before the meeting with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at the State Department in Washington Wednesday, Hillary also voiced concern over the functioning of the Grameen Bank productively after its managing director Prof Yunus was removed.
“And of course, we have expressed directly to the government our concern and hope that the …