South Asia

NOVANEWS Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami leader A.T.M. Azharul Islam is taken into a van following his verdict at a special court in Dhaka on December 30, 2014. — AFP DHAKA: Bangladesh's war crimes court Tuesday sentenced a leading Islamist to death for crimes committed during the country's 1971 conflict. A.T.M Azharul Islam, 62, became the 16th person and the 11th Islamist to be convicted of atrocities by the International Crimes Tribunal, which found him guilty of being a key member of a militia. Azharul Islam is the assistant secretary general of the nation's largest religious party, the Jamaat-i-Islami. He was ordered “hanged by the neck” for the genocide in the northern district of Rangpur. “No doubt, it was mass murder,” presiding judge Enayetur Rahim told a pack...

NOVANEWS By: Sammi Ibrahem,Sr Bangladesh's former Jatiya Party minister Syed Mohammed Kaiser is taken into a van following his verdict at a special court in Dhaka on December 23, 2014. — AFP DHAKA: Bangladesh's war crimes court on Tuesday sentenced a former government minister to hang for rape and genocide during the 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan. Syed Mohammad Kaiser became the 15th person to be convicted of atrocities by the International Crimes Tribunal, which found him guilty of heading a militia that rounded up and killed some 150 people in the nine-month conflict. The 73-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, did not react as the judge read out the verdict and said he would be “hanged by the neck until his death”. Lawyers for Kaiser, a former minister w...

NOVANEWS   JAKARTA: Indonesian police accused the top editor of a leading English-language newspaper of blasphemy after the paper published a cartoon depicting the flag of the militant Islamic State group that allegedly insulted Islam. Meidyatama Suryo­diningrat, editor-in-chief of the Jakarta Post, would be summoned for questioning next week, Jakarta police spokesman Col. Rikwanto said on Thursday. Police typically prepare the dossiers to be handed over to prosecutors, who will file the charges. If found guilty, he could face five years in prison, added Rikwanto, who like many Indonesians, uses a single name. The cartoon published July 3 put a skull and crossbones in the black-and-white flag of the militant Islamic State group and left sacred phrases in Arabic, including ...

NOVANEWS In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, protesters hold posters during a rally against the Islamic State group, in Jakarta, Indonesia. — Photo by AP CIANJUR: A businessman who proclaims himself leader of the Indonesian chapter of the Islamic State group says he has personally overseen the departure of scores of fighters from this Southeast Asian nation to Syria and Iraq. Police detained him for a night recently, but were unable to charge him with a crime. Chep Hernawan reflects both the success IS has had in attracting support in the region, and the challenges Indonesia faces in responding. The government, home to most of the up to 200 Southeast Asians believed to be fighting in Syria and Iraq, has forcefully spoken out against the Islamic State,...

NOVANEWS WHERE IS AMERICA HUMAN RIGHT ? Why are Buddhists in Burma (Myanmar) attacking and killing Muslims and destroying their communities? One thing for sure is there is nothing "spontaneous" about it. Organized crowds all show up at the time and place armed and do their "work" in a coordinated fashion. The police watch, stand by, and do nothing. The government which certainly has the capacity to stop it not only does nothing, but also praises the so-called Buddhist leader Ashin Wirathu who openly advocates it. What's it all about? Likely outcomes: 1. Violent push back from Muslims (adding to the myth that Muslims are "naturally" violent.) 2. The military will need to intervene to "save the day" - and coincidentally slow down the move to democracy there 3. Drug production and e...

NOVANEWS The Archipelago of Fear by ROSSIE INDIRA & ANDRE VLTCHEK In Indonesia, something unusual and hopeful is taking place. After a long intellectual winter, new green shoots are breaking through the snow (if one could be allowed to use this metaphor in a tropical country). A new Indonesian progressive publishing house – Badak Merah (“Red Rhino”) – is launching its first title, Andre Vltchek’s “Indonesia – The Archipelago of Fear”, translated from English to ‘Indonesia: Untaian Ketakutan di Nusantara’. It is a powerful criticism of post-1965 Indonesia, which both Andre Vltchek and Naomi Klein believe was nothing less than a Western experiment on human beings, duplicated later in many other parts of the world. The Indonesian writer and publisher, Rossie Indira, interviewed Vltchek...

NOVANEWS MYANMAR KILLING ROHENJA YANGON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- World Bank has granted 80 million U. S. dollars for Myanmar National Community Development projects in three townships in Myanmar, official media reported Saturday. The work of the 86.3-million U.S. dollars project is now underway in Kanpetlet in Chin State, Namhsam in Shan State and Kyunsu in Taninthayi Region, said the New Light of Myanmar. The six-year project, the first World Bank project in 25 years in Myanmar, started in March and will be in its first year -- covering 400 villages in three rural townships, including remote areas in Shan State, the report said. According to the World Bank, five more townships will be added in the second year and seven in the third year of the project. Over the next two years, 15 of Myanmar'...

NOVANEWS In this file photo, a Kachin woman applies traditional treatment to reduce her son's temperature at a refugee camp in Mansi Township, Kachin State, January 2013. (PHOTO: Reuters) By KO HTWE Fourteen villagers seeking shelter in Lagat Yang displacement camp in Mansi, Kachin State, were arrested by Burmese soldiers on Saturday. The Burmese Army’s 88th Infantry Division went to Lagat Yang on 24 and 25 April to compile a comprehensive list of current residents. The camp’s coordinator, La Sang, said the troops came back on Saturday, 3 May, and arrested 14 new arrivals on the pretext that they were not on the list. La Sang told DVB that 13 of the detainees were released on Sunday, but that the Burmese Army retained one person in custody for additional “questioning”. According t...

NOVANEWS Rallies and vigils take place around the world on anniversary of worst industrial disaster in Bangladesh's history - Sarah Lazare (Photo: A woman holds a picture of her relative, a garment worker who went missing in the Rana Plaza collapse. Photograph: Andrew Biraj/Reuters )Marking the one year anniversary of Bangladesh's Rana Plaza tragedy, thousands of survivors, family members of the dead and missing, and their supporters marched Thursday on the ruins of the collapsed factory that killed at least 1,135 garment workers and injured over 2,500. Some protesters donned funeral shrouds, and cries of "We want compensation!" and "Death to Sohel Rana!" (the building's owner) echoed throughout the crowd, The Guardian reports. Numbered among them were injured survivors, as well as lo...