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Syria fighting rages, more chemical attacks reported

Heavy fighting raged around the strategic Syrian border town of Qusair and the capital Damascus on Monday and further reports surfaced of chemical weapons attacks by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on rebel areas.

The Syrian military pounded eastern suburbs of Damascus with air strikes and artillery and loud explosions echoed around al-Nabak, 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, where fighting has cut the highway running north to the central city of Homs, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said.

Government offensives in recent weeks are widely seen as a campaign to strengthen Assad's negotiating position before a proposed international peace conference sponsored by the United States and Russia and planned for next month.
Opposition activists said Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters were pressing a sustained assault on Qusair, a town long used by insurgents as a way station for arms and other supplies from Lebanon.

For Assad, Qusair is a crucial link between Damascus and loyalist strongholds on the Mediterranean coast. Recapturing the town, in central Homs province, could also sever connections between rebel-held areas in the north and south of Syria.

Each side gave conflicting accounts of the fighting.
The Homs branch of the National Defence Forces, formed of pro-Assad militiamen, said on its Facebook page that government forces had now divided Qusair into four sectors and had made major gains in all but the one that includes the town center.
"All of the mercenaries' supply routes were cut off completely," it said, referring to the rebels.
Islamist rebel groups, including the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, said they had sent reinforcements to Qusair. But one opposition activist said these were stuck on the outskirts and had yet to link up with the town's defenders.
"So far they are just fighting and dying, their assault hasn't resulted in much yet, unfortunately," the activist said.
Rebels posted a video of fighters in what they said was central Qusair.
"We will keep fighting to the last man here who can say 'there is no god but God'," one insurgent said.
Hezbollah's deepening involvement in Qusair has raised the prospect of renewed civil war in neighboring Lebanon, where two rockets hit the Shi'ite Muslim movement's stronghold in south Beirut on Sunday and one was fired from south Lebanon towards Israel.

The rockets struck hours after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah promised that his anti-Israel guerrillas, fighting alongside Assad's forces, would win whatever the cost.

A Lebanese security source said another 107mm rocket, which did not go off, had been aimed at Beirut airport. The launch sites were near Aitat, in the hills just south of the capital.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced "deep concern" at Hezbollah's admitted combat role and the risk that the Syrian conflict will spill into Lebanon and other neighboring states.
"CHEMICAL ATTACK" AFFECTS DOZENS
The U.S.-Russian initiative so far appears only to have intensified the violence, especially around Qusair and Damascus.
In Harasta, an eastern Damascus suburb largely under rebel control, dozens of people were afflicted by respiratory difficulties after an apparent overnight chemical attack, according to opposition sources. Video showed victims lying on the floor of a room, breathing from oxygen masks.
The sides in the conflict, now in its third year, have accused each other of using chemical weapons. France's Le Monde newspaper published first-hand accounts on Monday of apparent chemical attacks by Assad's forces in April.
The newspaper said one of its photographers had suffered blurred vision and breathing problems for four days after an attack on April 13 on the Jobar front, in central Damascus.
Another video from Harasta overnight showed at least two fighters being put into a van, their eyes watering and struggling to breathe while medics put tubes into their throats.
It was not possible to verify the videos independently.
Syria, which is not a member of the anti-chemical weapons convention, is believed to have one of the world's last remaining stockpiles of undeclared chemical arms.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters in Brussels there was "increasingly strong evidence of localized use of chemical weapons" in Syria and said Paris would consult its partners on what action ought to be taken.

He was in the Belgian capital for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers who discussed calls from Britain and France to ease an EU embargo on arming Syrian rebels.
All EU sanctions on Syria could collapse unless the 27-nation bloc agrees on the fate of the arms embargo before it expires on Saturday, but several EU members oppose any change.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague signaled that his country was ready to see EU sanctions lapse rather than retreat from his demand to expand support for rebels.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, whose country provides U.N. observers posted between Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan Heights, opposed any arming of rebels, saying the EU should remain a "peace community".
OPPOSITION DISARRAY
The U.S.-Russian initiative provides the first slim hope in almost a year for a diplomatic end to a conflict that has cost more than 80,000 lives and caused a refugee exodus that the U.N. refugee agency expects to top 3.5 million by the end of 2013.
China, which along with Russia, has three times blocked U.N. Security Council action on Syria, said on Monday it would join the proposed talks and would push all concerned towards peace.

Damascus has indicated it will take part in the talks, but the fractured opposition, which has previously required Assad's exit to be guaranteed before any negotiations, has yet to lay out its position and remains mired in internal quarrels.

The opposition crisis deepened on Monday when liberals were offered only token representation, undermining international efforts to lend the Islamist-dominated alliance greater support.
To the dismay of envoys of Western and Arab nations monitoring four days of opposition talks in Istanbul, the 60-member Syrian National Coalition thwarted a deal to admit a liberal bloc headed by opposition campaigner Michel Kilo.
The failure to broaden the coalition, in which a Qatari-backed bloc influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood is prominent, could sap Saudi support for the revolt.
The coalition's Western backers had wanted more seats for liberals, an idea backed by Saudi Arabia, which had been uneasy about Qatar's rising influence, coalition insiders said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were due to meet in Paris later on Monday to discuss the conference they want to hold in Geneva in June.
 source : yahoo news

Mahasen bearing down on coast

A boat goes for safer place Wednesday afternoon as the sea sees rough tide with Cyclone Mahasen approaching Bangladesh coastal region. Photo: Focus Bangla 

Cyclone Mahasen moved slightly north-northeastwards and lies over north Bay and adjoining west central Bay Wednesday night after approaching within around 500 kilometres of Bangladesh coastline.
It is likely to intensify further and move in a north-northeasterly direction and may cross between Patuakhali (Khepupara)-Teknaf coast near Chittagong by Thursday morning, said a special weather bulletin of the Met office published at 9:00pm.
Its peripherial squally wind has started affecting coastal regions of Bangladesh, the bulletin added.
Maritime ports of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar have been advised to keep hoisted danger signal No. seven.
It was centred about 635 kms south southwest of Chittagong port, 580 kms southwest of Cox’s Bazar port and 515 kms south southwest of Mongla port at 9:00pm Wednesday.
Maximum sustained wind speed within 54 kms of the storm centre is about 62 kph rising to 90 kph in gusts/ squalls. Sea will remain very rough near the storm centre.
The coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Bhola,

A sattelite image of Mahasen

Borguna, Patuakhali, Barisal and their offshore islands and chars will come under danger signal No. seven.
On the other hand, maritime port of Mongla has been advised to keep hoisted danger signal No. five.
The coastal districts of Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars will come under danger signal No. five.
Under the influence of the storm the low-lying areas of the coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Barguna, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barisal, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars are likely to be inundated by storm surge of eight to ten feet height above normal astronomical tide.
The coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Feni, Chandpur, Barguna, Patuakhali, Barisal, Bhola, Pirojpur, and their offshore islands and chars are likely to experience wind speed up to 90-100 kph in gusts/squalls with heavy to very falls during the passage of the storm.
The coastal districts of Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore islands and chars are likely to experience wind speed up to 80-90 kph in gusts/ squalls with heavy to very falls during the passage of the storm.
Due to very heavy rainfall, landslide may occur at places over the hilly regions of Chittagong division.
All fishing boats, trawlers and marine vessels over north Bay have been advised to remain in shelter till further notice.
The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief on Wednesday sent a list containing guidelines and precautions for the locals to the deputy commissioners’ offices of the vulnerable districts, ministry sources said.

source : The Daily star

We don't have monster in our blood,' says Ohio suspect's daughter

First came the pain -- a decade of torture, torment and terror for three captive women and one of their young daughters.

Now comes the prosecution and -- if there's a conviction -- punishment for the man accused of being responsible for their hell.

Ariel Castro appeared silently in court Thursday, his head down, as he was arraigned on four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, accused of holding the women captive in his Cleveland home. Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lauren Moore ordered Castro held on $8 million bond -- $2 million for each of the three women and the child born to Amanda Berry before they were freed Monday evening.

Hours later, the top prosecutor in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, announced he'd press for more charges -- "for each and every act of sexual violence ... each day of kidnapping, every felonious assault (and) all his attempted murders."

Furthermore, Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said he'd try to persuade a grand jury to indict the 52-year-old Castro for "aggravated murder" for the termination of his captives' pregnancies. He cited a state law that a person can be charged with murder -- a conviction that could lead to the death penalty in Ohio -- for killing unborn children.

Photos: Kidnapped teens rescued

Disturbing ties between Castro and victims

Kidnapping victim's aunt: God heard us

Officer reflects on Castro encounter

CNN Exclusive: 'We don't have monster in our blood'

According to an initial incident report obtained by CNN, Michelle Knight said she became pregnant at least five times while in Castro's 1,400-square-foot home. When that happened, she told investigators, Castro "starved her for at least two weeks, then he repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried."

It is not known how many times, if any, the other two women got pregnant only to miscarry. One of them, Berry, gave birth to a daughter while in captivity.

That's just one of the brutal tales reported so far about the women's captivity, which McGinty described as "beyond comprehension."

"The child kidnapper operated a torture chamber and private prison in the heart of the city," he told reporters. "The horrific brutality and torture that the victims endured for a decade is beyond comprehension."

Castro's own mother is among those trying to make sense of the horror.

"I have a sick son who has done something serious," she told Univision and Telemundo. "I'm suffering very much. I ask for forgiveness from those mothers; may those girls forgive me."

Source: Writings detail actions, reasons behind them

So what was going through the suspect's mind, when he allegedly lured three women into a car between 2002 and 2004, took them to his home three miles away and held them there -- where they were chained, threatened and repeatedly sexually assaulted?

Neither Castro, his attorneys nor police have spelled out a motive publicly.

The suspect has talked with investigators, confessing to some of the actions of which he's accused, said a law enforcement source closely involved with the investigation. The source did not describe precisely what Castro confessed to when he was interrogated.

Plus, investigators have asked the state crime lab to expedite tests to create a DNA profile of Castro -- something that typically takes 20 days, but should be back Friday -- said Ohio Attorney General's office spokesman Dan Tierney.

They're also poring over evidence, including more than 200 items seized from Castro's Seymour Avenue home. Among them are writings authorities believe were written by the suspect, said two law enforcement sources closely involved in the case.

Those contain "specific detailing of actions and reasons behind actions" tied to the women's abduction and their kidnapper's behavior toward them, one of the law enforcement sources said. The author cites his own history of abuse by family members as justification.

Castro's daughter doesn't want to see him

Source: Women helped each other survive

Neighbor's insight into Castro's life

Dr. Drew: This guy is a monster

The latest developments in the Cleveland case

The source -- who described the "pretty lengthy" writings as "more of a diary" -- said they included talk of suicide, though that's just one of many aspects.

Authorities are working "meticulously" to see whether others were involved in the kidnapping plot. Two of Castro's brothers, Pedro and Onil, were initially arrested in the case only to be released Thursday -- after appearing in court on unrelated cases -- when investigators found nothing, including from the victims' interviews, linking them to the abductions.

One of his daughters, Angie Gregg, told CNN that she "just wanted to die" upon hearing her father had been implicated.

But looking back, she thinks there were signs of something awry -- such as how her father "kept his house locked down so tight" and would sometimes leave mysteriously for an hour or so, then return, with "no explanation."

"Everything's making sense now," Gregg said. "It's all adding up, and I'm just disgusted."

Source: Death threat if newborn died

According to the initial incident report, the women said Castro first chained them in the basement but later let them live upstairs on the second floor.

The women went outside only twice during their ordeal -- and just "briefly" at that, Cleveland Public Safety Director Martin Flask said.

Most of the time the three would be in different rooms, though they interacted occasionally and came to "rely on each other for survival," said a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

One thing they could count on was that their alleged captor wouldn't let them out.

Castro would often test his captives by pretending to leave, the law enforcement source said. Then he'd suddenly return; if there were indications any of the women had moved, they'd be disciplined.

Survival the key difference from 'House of Horrors' case

While Knight told investigators Castro forced her to miscarry her own unborn children, she said he ordered her to deliver Berry's child, according to a police source familiar with the investigation.

The baby was delivered in a plastic tub or pool in order to contain the afterbirth and amniotic fluid, the source said.

Panic ensued soon after. The child stopped breathing, and everyone started screaming, the source said, citing accounts by the young women.

Knight said Castro threatened to kill her if the baby did not survive, the initial police report states.

"What's most incredible here is that this girl who knows nothing about childbirth was able to deliver a baby that is now a healthy 6-year-old," the source said.

'I don't think she would have lived very much longer'

Knight remained hospitalized in good condition Thursday, said MetroHealth Medical Center spokeswoman Tina Shaerban-Arundel.

The others held -- Berry, her 6-year-old daughter and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus -- are back with relatives.

FBI specialists who talked with them feel they "desperately need space and time," said McGinty.

Who are Berry, DeJesus and Knight?

"These victims need to be decompressed," he said. "They need a chance to heal before we seek further in-depth evidence from them."

Those close to them, as well as residents of Cleveland and beyond, are trying to make sense of the alleged depravity.

One of them is Arlene Castro, the suspect's daughter and once a very good friend of DeJesus. She was interviewed on an "America's Most Wanted" segment in 2005 talking about how she'd been with DeJesus, hoping to spend the afternoon with her, shortly before her abduction.

Speaking Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America," she said she last spoke with her father late last month, adding the two had never been close. Whatever their relationship, she insisted, "I had no idea" what was happening.

"I'm really disappointed, embarrassed, mainly devastated," Arlene Castro said. "... I would like to say that I'm absolutely so, so sorry."

Women crushed by news her father allegedly abducted her friend

Fern Gentry said on CNN's "Starting Point" Thursday that hearing Berry, her granddaughter, was alive 10 years after her disappearance was the "most important thing that ever happened in my life."

Gentry, who spoke to Berry by phone from her Tennessee home Tuesday, said she's grateful for all involved in the case -- from police to helpful neighbors -- and that her granddaughter can now live her life.

"If she hadn't got out, I don't think she would have lived very much longer," Gentry said.

 source : cnn

Syria's protracted conflict shows no sign of abating

 

The Free Syrian Army has not yet shown itself to be a cohesive force

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said that in a guerrilla war the rebels only had to not lose to win; however, unless a regular army was clearly winning, it was losing. The Syrian crisis has, for the time being, turned that maxim on its head.

When the uprising began, the West and its allies in the Gulf expected it to last weeks or maybe months - but not years.
Now, by hanging on this long, the regime in Damascus increasingly thinks that by not losing it is winning.
That new confidence - along with what is believed to be a steady supply of arms from its supporters in Iran and Russia - is helping the regime to take back some areas which it had previously lost.
In the capital Damascus, you can hear the sound of mortar fire as the regime slowly pushes fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) out of the parts of the city that it took the rebels months to get hold of.
The situation in Syria is complicated. If you are not confused by what is going on there, then you do not understand it.
However, to try to make the crisis less confusing to the outside world, policymakers, politicians and journalists have tried to boil it down to good versus evil: the FSA versus President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The emergence of radical Islamist groups has further complicated the conflict

And the regime has played its part - so far more than 70,000 people are believed to have died in the conflict.
But to start to understand why this crisis is so intractable, two things must first be understood.
'Men with guns' Firstly, the FSA - that you have been hearing so much about - does not exist.
A better title would be MWG, or men with guns, because having guns and firing them in the same direction is the only thing that unites them.
The word "army" suggests a cohesive force with a command structure. Almost two years after the FSA was created, that remains illusive.
The situation has been further complicated by the introduction into the arena of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists and armed criminal gangs.

“Start Quote

It is clear that nobody knows how to end this crisis”

Secondly, the Syrian opposition's political leadership - which wanders around international capitals attending conferences and making grand speeches - is not leading anyone. It barely has control of the delegates in the room with it, let alone the fighters in the field.

These two things can help explain why this crisis has so far shown no sign of being resolved politically.
America is not acting because it does not know what to do or whom to do it with.
Neither do the European countries.
Having spent the last few days in Beirut and Damascus, talking to the international community, Western diplomats, FSA activists and Syrian regime supporters, it is clear that nobody knows how to end this crisis.
That's just about the only thing all sides agree on.
Saudi and Qatari 'meddling' The vacuum created by Western inaction has been filled by two of the Gulf states - Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
These are both sorely undemocratic states, they are not champions of democracy either at home or abroad.

Qatar has viewed the upheavals of the Arab Spring as an opportunity to extend its influence

So, why in Syria did we have a "free world" standing by and watching the democratic uprising being brutally crushed, when suddenly from over the horizon came the cavalry from the very un-free Gulf world to arm and support the aspirations of the people?
This bit is simple - they did not.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are meddling in Syria for thoroughly selfish reasons. Freedom, democracy and human rights have absolutely nothing to do with why they are arming the rebels.
President Assad's Alawite community is a splinter from the Shia faith - its closest allies are in Shia Iran.
Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia hates Shia Iran, so it is using the war in Syria to try and weaken it.
The Saudi interest in the conflict dates back 1,300 years to the split within Islam. That is where its ambitions over the outcome of the civil war begin and end.
Qatar is more complicated. Nobody really understands the minutiae of the Qatari foreign policy - perhaps not even the Qataris. Small nations like to feel important and they like to have bigger friends.
The Qataris are a tiny nation with lots of money. They are looking at the post-Arab Spring Middle East as a giant tombola, they are using their vast wealth to buy up as many of the lottery tickets on offer as possible because they just want to win something, somewhere.

“Start Quote

The Syrian people are losing their lives, their homes, their wealth”

They might end up with a prize that is nowhere near what they paid for it - but it will be theirs. It is the winning - not necessarily the quality of the prize - that counts.

Qatar wants to have lots of grateful friends once the turmoil in the region is over who will hopefully look after them in the future.
The only thing that is certain in Syria is who is losing: The Syrian people are losing. They are losing their lives, their homes, their wealth. Their children are losing their childhoods.
'Societal crisis' The Syrians are also losing Syria, because the longer this goes on the more society is losing what little sense of identity it has.
"The country is moving from a political crisis to a societal crisis," is how one of the few genuinely knowledgeable people trying to manage this crisis explained events here to me.
This societal crisis is manifesting itself in steadily increasing small acts of sectarian violence.

The increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict is undermining Syrian society's sense of identity

All across the country, every day, there are brutal events, none of which in itself is big enough to warrant the attention of international or local media, but each of which breaks another strand of this country's fragile weave of sects and religions.
Each one is an act of revenge for an offence committed by another member of the victim's religious community.
Women are being raped because they are Sunni or Alawite and their men are assumed to be involved in the fighting.
Christian women are being hauled off buses and attacked by Salafist fighters for not covering their hair.
Murders lead to revenge massacres.
When will the Syria crisis end? God knows.
God knows because this crisis is increasingly not about freedom but about religion.
The Syrian war is turning into a sectarian conflict whose influence will spill beyond the country's borders.
There was the chance at the beginning to stop that being the case. That chance has been lost.

 source:  BBC news

Kamaruzzaman to hang

A war crimes tribunal has ruled that Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman must die for the crimes he committed in 1971 against Bengalees fighting for the birth of Bangladesh.

A former head of Jamaat’s diplomatic relations and liaison team, this former Al-Badr man committed crimes at the age of 19 when he was a local leader of Jamaat’s erstwhile student wing, the Islami Chhatra Sangha, in and around Sherpur.

Justice Obaidul Hassan-led International Crimes Tribunal-2 gave out the verdict.

The Jamaat itself perpetrated war crimes – listed by the Guinness Book of Records as among the five deadliest 20th-century killing – during the war against Pakistan and facing widespread call for being outlawed as a political party.

Justice Mohammad Shahinur Islam began reading the 62-page summary of the 215-page verdict at 11:21am in an overcrowded courtroom, bdnews24.com Correspondent reported.

Judge Md Mozibur Rahman said five of the seven charges levelled against him had been proven.

He said, according to the charges brought by the prosecution, Kamaruzzaman was the ‘chief organiser’ of the Al-Badr, a militant outfit formed to assist the Pakistan army to thwart Bangladesh’s freedom struggle in 1971, of greater Mymensingh region.

The prosecution had presented a report run by the Jamaat mouthpiece Daily Sangram during the war to support its allegation.

Judge Rahman said the defence had failed to prove otherwise.

Charges of Genocide at Sohagpur, torture of lecturer Abdul Hannan, muder of Golam MOstafa, and the murder of five were proved.

The verdict said that the charges of killing eight against Kamruzzaman could not be proved beyond doubt.

Kamaruzzaman was brought to the courtroom at 11:45am. Five minutes later the judges arrived.

Chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal-2, Justice Obaidul Hassan, thanked the lawyers of both prosecution and defence, and began reading out the details of Kamaruzzaman’s case.

Justice Mohammad Mojibur Rahman Mia read out the second part of the verdict with ICT-2 Chairman giving the final verdict.

Kamaruzzaman was clad in a white shirt and black trousers. When brought, he headed straight to the place designated for him without looking anywhere. His oiled hair was brushed neatly, and was not wearing a cap.

Freedom Fighters, eminent personalities and leaders of Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee were seen at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) premises despite a drizzle on Thursday morning, awaiting the verdict of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman.
The three-member judge panel of ICT arrived at the court premises at around 10:00am.

Media, lawyers, and many others from various walks of life were gathering at the tribunal premises since morning, bdnews24.com Correspondents at scene reported. Jamaat’s Assistant Secretary General Kamaruzzaman was brought to the tribunal from Dhaka Central Jail at around 9:30am.

Ghatak Dlal Nirmul Committee chief Shahriar Kabir, Professor Muntasir Mamun, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote President Nasiruddin Yousuf Bachchu were present at scene and were talking to journalists. They were all hoping for capital punishment for Kamaruzzaman and all war criminals.

Muktijoddha Sangsad Central Command Council members arrived at tribunal premises with national flags and their own flags at around 10:45am. Council Chairman Retired Major General Helal Morshed Khan was seen leading them.

They were chanting slogans demanding execution of war criminals.

Special security arrangements were made at the tribunal premises, Ramna zone police Assistant Commissioner (patrol) Imanul Islam told bdnews24.com. Traffic has been curbed through Doyel Chattar, Kadam fountain and other areas.

Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were seen alert outside the tribunal premises.

ICT-2 started hearing Kamaruzzaman’s case on Jun 4 last year. The Jamaat leader has been charged on seven accounts of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

The prosecution accused Kamaruzzaman, who then was the head of the Mymensingh unit of Jamaat’s student affiliate Islami Chhatra Shangha, of setting up the Al Badr collaborator force with handpicked activists in Jamalpur on Apr 22.

The force was accused of involvement in genocide, killing, rape, looting, arson, and deportation of people in the greater Mymensingh district including Jamalpur, Netrokona, Kishoreganj, Sherpur and Tangail, the prosecution said.

Kamaruzzaman is the fourth defendant to be convicted of crimes against humanity since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government opened the war crimes tribunal in 2010.

The tribunal sentenced former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad to death in January for crimes during the war. Abdul Quader Mollah was sentenced to life in prison on Feb 5 on similar charges.

Jamaat’s number two Delwar Hossain Sayedee was found guilty on eight counts involving mass killings, rape and atrocities on Feb 28. Five other top party leaders are currently on trial while Jamaat-e-Islami guru Ghulam Azam’s verdict is expected any day.

 Source : bdnews24

Tribunal reading out verdict

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman is being taken to International Crimes Tribunal for judgement for wartime offences. Photo courtesy: Shahbagh Chattar Facebook group

A tribunal in Dhaka, which is dealing with the wartime crimes against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, started reading out the summary of the judgement Thursday morning.
A prison van carrying Kamaruzzaman entered the tribunal premises around 9:30am amid tight security.
Assistant secretary general of the Jamaat, which was instrumental to foil Bangladesh’s struggle for independence, faces charges of seven wartime offences.
The three-member panel of International Crimes Tribunal-2 is set to pronounce its judgement soon.
Kamaruzzaman was known to have been a key organiser of the Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of then Pakistani army which planned and executed the killing of Bangalee intellectuals at the fag end of the Liberation War in 1971, according to historical records.
The tribunal fixed the judgement day on Wednesday, 22 days after the completion of the case proceedings.
THE CHARGES
Abduction and killing of Badiuzzaman; inflicting inhumane torture on pro-liberation intellectual Syed Abdul Hannan; advising the killing of 164 people and rape of many women in Sohagpur; abduction and killing of Golam Mostafa; abduction, confinement and torture of Liakat Ali and Mujibur Rahman Panu and the killing of eight people; abduction and killing of Tunu; and the killing Zahurul Islam Dara and five others.
THE TRIAL
Kamaruzzaman was arrested in a criminal case on July 13, 2010, and shown arrested on war crimes charges on August 2 the same year.
The prosecution pressed formal charges against him incorporating nine counts of crimes against humanity on January 15, 2012, and Tribunal-1 took the charges into cognisance on January 31. The case was transferred to Tribunal-2 on April 16, 2012.
On June 4, 2012, the tribunal indicted Kamaruzzaman on seven charges of crimes against humanity, including murder and torture of unarmed civilians and complicity in other crimes during the nine-month-long war.
The indictment order, in a brief profile of the accused, said Kamaruzzaman, as the president of Islami Chhatra Sangha of greater Mymensingh in 1971, had played the role of a key organiser in the formation of the Al-Badr force.
Under the leadership of Kamaruzzaman, all members of Chhatra Sangha of greater Mymensingh were absorbed into Al-Badr within a month. They, after receiving summary training, launched atrocities targeting the Hindus and unarmed Bangalee civilians in greater Mymensingh, the order said.
As many as 18 prosecution witnesses, including the investigation officer of the case, testified against the accused, while five people, including Kamaruzzaman’s son and brother, testified in favour of the accused between July 15, 2012 and March 24, 2013.
The prosecution and the defence held closing arguments from March 24 until April 16.
The two tribunals dealing with the war crimes cases have already delivered verdicts in three cases. Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Delawar Hossain Sayedee and expelled Jamaat member Abul Kalam Azad were sentenced to death while Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah received life imprisonment.
The verdict delivery in the war crimes case against former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam is pending with Tribunal-1.

 Source : The Daily Star

Iran talks tough as Syria claims Israel attacked military facility

Iran has no doubt Syria will deal a "crushing response" to Israel and the Shiite regime stands ready to train its ally's soldiers, officials in Tehran have said.

The remarks, delivered by various Iranian officials and reported in state media, came Sunday after Syria claimed that Israel launched a fresh attack inside its borders.

"As a Muslim and friendly country, we stand by Syria and if there is need for training, we will provide them with necessary training," Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces, told reporters Sunday.

Around the same time, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said he had no doubt Syria and its allies will "give a crushing response to the aggressions of the Zionists," the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Explosions rock Damascus

Syrian official: Israel has declared war

King: Arming rebels could help Al Qaeda

Did Israel conduct airstrike on Syria?

Israel has not confirmed or denied that it fired rockets that hit a military research center in the Damascus suburbs Sunday.

But Syria says it was the second Israeli airstrike in three days, and Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad told CNN the attack was a declaration of war by Israel.

The airstrikes have riled Syria's allies in the region: Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Why Syria matters

The Syrian civil war has pitted rebel fighters against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. More than 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the bitter conflict during the past two years.

Syria matters to Iran because it is believed to be the main conduit to the Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, the proxy through which Iran can threaten Israel with an arsenal of short-range missiles.

In 2009, the top U.S. diplomat in Damascus disclosed that Syria had begun delivery of ballistic missiles to Hezbollah, according to official cables leaked to and published by WikiLeaks.

The last thing Iran wants is a Sunni-dominated Syria -- especially as the Syrian rebels' main supporters are Iran's Persian Gulf rivals: Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Hezbollah's feared scenario is Israel on one side and a hostile Sunni-led Syria on the other.

'We are watching everything'

Sunday's reported attack comes days after U.S. officials told CNN that they believed Israel had conducted an airstrike against Syria on Thursday or Friday.

The Israeli military did not comment on the U.S. claim either.

But Israel has long said it would target any transfer of weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorist groups.

"We are watching everything when it comes to the movement of these types of weapons. We have the means to do that," a senior Israeli defense official told CNN's Sara Sidner on Sunday. The official is not authorized to speak to the media.

Shaul Mofaz, a lawmaker in Israel's Knesset, told Israeli Army Radio on Sunday that Israel isn't meddling with Syria's civil war. But Israel must protect itself from Lebanese militants, he said.

"For Israel, it is very important that the front group for Iran, which is in Lebanon, needs to be stopped," Mofaz said.

Hezbollah did not immediately comment after Sunday's claims.

'Everything kept exploding'

Syria said Sunday's attack targeted the Jamraya research center in the Damascus suburbs. But state media reports did not provide details about what type of research occurs in the facility, or how much damage occurred.

"Until now, the details are not clear on what happened," al Mekdad told CNN. "Did they fire missiles? ... It is not clear for me, because I don't know how it happened, and of course it is worrying, but Israel will suffer the same."

The blasts rocked a large military area in the suburbs of Syria's capital, prompting terrified residents nearby to run for cover.

"Everything kept exploding over and over again," said Anna Deeb, whose family lives just over a mile away. "We could hear gunshots, we could hear people screaming. ... We didn't know what to do, and there was a problem with us breathing because the smoke was too much."

In January, Syrian authorities said Israeli warplanes killed two workers and injured five others when they struck the same research facility that officials said was targeted on Sunday.

A U.S. official told CNN at the time that the Syrian claims were false.

  

Source : CNN