Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested four suspected members of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from the city’s Kalabagan area late on Sunday night.
The arrestees are SM Abdul Goni, 25, Abu Huraira Bin Aman alias Shams, 22, Mohammad Shahnewaz Al Maruf, 22, and SM Ashrafuzzaman, 30.
Goni and Shams are students of Darul Ihsan University, while Ashrafuzzaman, an ex-student of the university, is a software engineer and Maruf is an A-level student, said Rab officials.
The law enforcers recovered three laptop and three …

Detained BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury filed a writ petition with the High court yesterday praying for an order on the government to let her husband go to Singapore for treatment.
Farhat stated in the petition that her husband is a patient of heart diseases, and he is now in a critical condition due to “physical torture on him in law enforcers’ custody”.
He should be allowed to go to Singapore for better treatment, she said.
The petition also prayed to the …

Undisclosed document shows BNP finalises seat-sharing list for municipal polls
The main opposition BNP has finalised a list of mayoral candidates for the municipality polls leaving five municipalities for its major ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
BNP leaders had prepared the list that The Daily Star obtained from the BNP headquarters yesterday.
Jamaat has fielded candidates in at least 38 municipalities where BNP-backed candidates will also stand.
BNP-backed candidates will have to face challenge from the party’s rebel candidates in almost half of the 262 municipalities, where polls will be held …

Amra Muktijoddhar Santan, an organisation of freedom fighters’ children, yesterday demanded arrest of former Jamaat Ameer Ghulam Azam and others on charges of war crimes.
They made demand at a protest procession and flag rally in front of Jatiya Press Club in the city, says a press release.

Police arrested three alleged activists of Islamist outfit Hizbut Touhid who were seen distributing Jihadi books, leaflets, and CDs in front of Chittagong Press Club at Jamal Khan in the port city yesterday.
Kotwali police said the arrestees — Yasin Ali, 39, Atikur Rahman, 27, and Mohammad Riad, 19, — admitted their connection with Hizbut Touhid led by Bayejid Khan Ponni.
Different objectionable leaflets, books, and CDs were seized from the three. The seized CDs are named “Dazzal”.

BNP policymakers are not interested in making any deal with its ally Jamaat-e-Islami for backing pro-Jamaat candidates in the municipality polls scheduled for January 12.
Following strong opposition from many leaders in the main opposition party, both parties failed to reach a consensus on this, sources said.
Party insiders, however, said the BNP top leadership is not interested in Jamaat, which wants BNP’s backing for pro-Jamaat mayoral candidates in at least 40 municipalities, considering the current political situation.
BNP central directed leaders of only …

War crimes tribunal adjourns proceedings until January 17

BNP stalwart Salauddin Quader Chowdhury makes a gesture at photojournalists as he is being put into a prison van at the International Crimes Tribunal yesterday afternoon.Photo: STAR
Detained BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury once again has made an exhibition of arrogance by erupting into shouting during and after the proceedings of International Crimes Tribunal.
Salauddin was produced before the tribunal yesterday for the first time since he was booked on December 19 for war crimes.
The BNP standing …

Siddique Ahmed
The landmark High Court judgment cancelling the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution came following sixty-four-year-old Siddique Ahmed’s writ but it didn’t deliver any personal remedy for the petitioner.
The petitioner was not relieved by the judgment as the judges of the case preferred not to interfere with his conviction and sentence despite his expectation to that end.
Though the HC judgment declared illegal HM Ershad’s military regime (1982-1986) and all martial law courts and trials, Siddique’s conviction in such a tribunal prevails.
He …

THE doctrine of ”command responsibility” or ’superior responsibility’ was born neither as a detailed, nor a strictly defined, form of liability. It grew out of a ”fuzzy idea” and remained, for a long time, the subject of much debate and contradictory opinions. The doctrine of ”command responsibility” or ‘’superior responsibility” prescribes the criminal liability of those persons who, being in positions of command, have failed to either ”prevent” or ”punish” the crimes of their subordinates. This concept does not differentiate between …

The High Court in its landmark judgment on the seventh amendment has made some observations on the unconstitutional takeovers by military generals after the country’s independence.
In the full text of the verdict released yesterday, the HC kept a separate section “Aftermath of Bangabandhu’s Killing: History of Extra Constitutional Power Game.”
The judgment says the defeated anti-liberation forces with the help from abroad had been conspiring to spoil the fruits of the country’s Liberation War while the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur …

The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday rejected Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s bail prayer and sent him back to jail.
Sayedee is accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes during the Liberation War in 1971.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Md Nizamul Huq directed the authorities to produce him before it on February 16 next year.
It also asked the investigation agency concerned to complete the probe into charges against Sayedee and submit its report by February 15.
The tribunal said it will issue necessary …

Former military dictator HM Ershad kept quiet after the full text of the High Court verdict on the seventh amendment of the constitution was released yesterday.
Ershad, chairman of Jatiya Party, a key component of the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance government, welcomed the judgement which was delivered on August 26.
It had declared Ershad’s military regime illegal.
Ershad yesterday declined to make any comment on the release of the full text of the verdict yesterday afternoon when The Daily Star contacted him.
He however said he …