Zyma Islam

“Please don’t reveal my son’s name in the news, he is still in Libya, he will get killed by his trafficker,” she implored, talking over the phone from Noakhali.

No conversation about rape is complete without recognising this: marital rape, and underage marriage “under special circumstances” are both legal in this country.

While 81 migrant workers returning from Vietnam were incarcerated for more than a month, before finally being released from prison over this past week, the recruiting agents who sent them to the Southeast Asian country in the first place are going scot-free and denying all claims of trafficking.

When the law minister on Thursday announced that the law would be reformed to provide for death penalty for rape, activists, researchers and lawyers pointed out that far more crucial changes need to be made with immediate effect.

With suspended officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das now behind bars over the killing of retired army major Sinha, stories are unearthed about the unwritten law of the upazila town: you pay, you live.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has lately witten to Law Minister Anisul Huq seeking amendment to the trafficking prevention law, to potentially leash the capacity of law enforcers in raiding recruitment agencies.

Another 32 migrants, who have returned to the country recently, were thrown into jail yesterday after completion of their quarantine period.

The recruiting agency that sent 14-year-old Umme Kulsum to a Saudi employer, who tortured her to death, threw many others into similar pits of abuse.

Two lots of a diabetes controlling drug of Bangladesh origin were recalled in the US last month for containing a compound that has the potential to cause cancer.

Yesterday afternoon before a Dhaka court, Imtiaz Hossain Rocky, brother of Ishtiaque Hossain Jonny who was tortured and killed in police custody in 2014, was constantly on his feet.

“Differently abled, not disabled” -- this is how Noor Nahian, the founder of Bangladesh Wheelchair Sports Foundation captioned a photo of himself sitting in his wheelchair, that he posted on Twitter.

Shafiqul Islam Kajol was missing for 53 days, discovered by law enforcers roaming the India-Bangladesh border in Benapole in the middle of the night, subsequently thrown in jail and denied bail for 3 months -- and yet the only investigation being done by the state is about a Facebook post by Kajol.

While all eyes are on the Teknaf police right now, it is imperative to remember that deaths due to “gunfights”, “shootouts”, and “crossfires” happen all across the country -- and that the numbers have skyrocketed since the war on drugs was announced in May 2018.

Nestled between hills on one side and the sea on the other, Marishbunia village in Teknaf’s Baharchhara union is pure beauty. Babbling brooks, mossy arched bridges and hibiscus shrubs in full bloom -- this was the last location where Maj (retd) Sinha Rashed Md Khan was filming before he was killed in police firing on July 31.

People taking turns to talk on a particular issue, placing testimonials, and administrators listening cautiously and coming up with certain commitments publicly is how a public hearing takes place.

At least 87 people have been killed in 48 incidents of “gunfights” involving Teknaf police alone between August 1, 2018 and August 1, 2020.

“Why was my son killed? If he had broken any law, they could have shot him in the leg or injured him or made him surrender or taken him to the police station for interrogation. But why was he murdered?”

Four months into the pandemic, a major coronavirus testing facility is still functioning with volunteer technologists who have begun to go on strike demanding payment.

Something strange is happening in the capital’s slums -- Covid-19 cases are hard to come by.

It was a small piece of news published on June 6, hardly noticeable in the slew of coronavirus coverage -- 219 migrant workers deported from Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain have been sent to jail on charges of “tarnishing the image of Bangladesh”.