Bangladeshi authorities filed extortion charges against a former prime minister's son who had been a powerful political leader in a nation that ranks among the world's most corrupt, police said.
Police filed charges with a magistrate's court against Tarique Rahman for allegedly extorting US$147,000 from a construction company, police investigator Mahbub Morshed said on Sunday. Rahman has denied the allegation.
The arrest of Rahman, a senior leader of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was part of a wide corruption investigation launched by the new government that has also detained dozens of politicians, including former ministers, on corruption charges.
The military-backed interim government has launched an anti-graft drive since Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency on Jan. 11 following weeks of political unrest.
Magistrate A.B.M. Abdul Fatah received the one-page charge against Rahman, Morshed said, adding that he had submitted a list of 12 prosecution witnesses to the court.
A speedy trial court formally recorded the charges for extortion against Rahman, the detained son of Khaleda Zia.
"Speedy trial court judge Abdur Rouf Khan took cognizance of the case as a police officer read out charges of extortion against Tarique Rahman," a court registrar said.
The judge set the next hearing in the case for next Thursday.
Police escorted a pale-looking Rahman into court through a crush of lawyers and visitors, witnesses said.
Rahman, 40, was charged with illegally taking 10 million taka (US$147,000) in January from the owner of a construction firm.
"The trial will end in the next 60 days," a law ministry official said yesterday.
"The speedy trial courts are mandated to complete trials within the stipulated time [two months]," the official said.
Bangladesh's army-backed interim government said, meanwhile, it might allow indoor political activity to resume in three months but would not rush into holding elections.
All political activity has been banned since authorities imposed a state of emergency and postponed parliamentary elections planned for Jan. 22 in the wake of widespread violence.
"We are planning to lift the ban [on indoor politics]," Mainul Husein, the administration's law and information adviser, told reporters late on Sunday.
However, he ruled out holding elections until more reforms were in place.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the