Bangladesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death

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A Bangladesh court sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to be hanged for crimes against humanity on Monday, with cheers breaking out in the packed court as the judge read out the verdict. Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against a student-led uprising last year that eventually ousted her. The highly anticipated ruling, which was broadcast live on national television, came less than three months before the first polls in the South Asian country of 170 million people since her overthrow in August 2024. “All the… elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled,” judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder read to the court in Dhaka. The former leader was found guilty on three counts: incitement, order to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities, the judge said. “We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, sentence of death.” Crowds waved the national fl...
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Kenya braces for fresh protests despite president’s tax climbdown

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By Aaron Ross Reuters

Kenyan police put up roadblocks on streets leading to the presidential palace on Thursday as some protesters vowed to “occupy State House”, despite the president’s climbdown on proposed tax hikes that sparked a week of demonstrations.

It was not clear how far protesters would be mollified by President William Ruto’s Wednesday decision to withdraw the finance bill a day after clashes killed at least 23 people and saw parliament being stormed briefly.

Ruto is grappling with the most serious crisis of his two-year-old presidency as the youth-led protest movement has grown rapidly from online condemnations of the tax hikes into mass rallies demanding a political overhaul.

Lacking a formal leadership structure, however, protest supporters were divided on how far to carry the demonstrations.

“Let’s not be foolish as we fight for a better Kenya,” Boniface Mwangi, a prominent social justice activist, said in an Instagram post.

He voiced support for demonstrations on Thursday but opposed calls to invade State House, the president’s formal offices and residence, a move that he said could spur more violence and be used to justify a crackdown.

Reuters reporters saw an army vehicle in the capital’s central business district, site of the bulk of Tuesday’s protests, after the government deployed the military to help police rein in the violence.Kenya’s President William Ruto backed down on planned tax hikes on Wednesday, bowing to pressure after deadly nationwide protests.

Although some protest supporters said they would not demonstrate on Thursday as the finance bill had been scrapped, others pledged to press on, saying only Ruto’s resignation would satisfy them.

“Right now is not about just the finance bill but about #RutoMustGo,” Davis Tafari told Reuters in a text message. “As political activists we have to make sure that Ruto and his MPs have resigned and fresh elections are held.”

He added, “We occupy State House for dignity and justice.”

DIALOGUE, AUSTERITY ARE NEXT STEPS

In a speech on Wednesday, Ruto defended his push to raise taxes on items such as bread, cooking oil and diapers, saying it was justified by the need to cut Kenya’s high debt, which has made borrowing difficult and squeezed the currency.

But he acknowledged that the public had overwhelmingly rejected the finance bill. He said he would now start a dialogue with Kenyan youth and work on austerity measures, beginning with cuts to the budget of the presidency.

Unlike previous demonstrations in Kenya called by political figures and often mobilised on the basis of ethnicity, the current protests have appealed broadly to those weary of rising living costs and endemic corruption.

From big cities to rural areas, most of Kenya’s 47 counties saw protests on Tuesday, even in Ruto’s hometown of Eldoret in his ethnic Kalenjin heartland.

At least 23 people were killed nationwide and 30 were being treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya Medical Association said. Medical officials in Nairobi said scores were injured.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/5kWOr1K

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