Waariithah Ahsan

Doctoral Researcher |Barrister| Int’l award winning public speaker| Professor | Founder,No Passport Voice | Proud daughter| sister| mamajaani| student of life

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

What a beautiful morning in London meeting the legend Cherie Blair and experiencing her wisdom, humility and kindness. Thank you so much for fitting me in your busy schedule. #legend

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

Amidst the gloom&shallowness in politics worldwide,u gave me butterflies again to believe in it.Congratulations @ZohranKMamdani “I’m young despite my best efforts to grow older.I’m Muslim.I am a Democratic Socialist.And I refuse to apologise for any of it”,-will echo for lifetime

[Fox News @FoxNews]

MAMDANI: “I am young despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a Democratic socialist.”

“And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

"Well guys, you're gonna have to learn his f*cking name now."

I went on a rant at the Zohran Mamdani event last night, against billionaires who spent millions to try and stop a guy whose name they refuse to correctly pronounce.

Watch/share/subscribe to Zeteo:

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

Heart is too heavy #MilestoneTragedy

[Globe Eye News @GlobeEyeNews]

BREAKING:

Bangladesh added the phrase Valid for all countries except Israel to its passport.

[Naomi Hossain @nomhossain]

Bangladeshis marched and struck for Palestine. 🇵🇸🇧🇩✊❤️. Some twats and Islamist nuts were also there. Hindutva psychos lost their tiny minds. Fried chicken was the main victim.

[Yuvraj Singh @YUVSTRONG12]

Sending my prayers and wishes to Tamim Iqbal and his family. You’ve faced tough opponents before and come out stronger, this will be no different. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Stay strong, champion @TamimOfficial28

[David Bergman @TheDavidBergman]

When judges do not receive due process, how can anyone else expect to receive it? This is the question that emerges from the events that took place yesterday at the #Bangladesh High Court that ended in the Chief Justice putting 12 High Court judges on leave after they refused to resign, and students surrounded the High Court demanding they be forced out.

Some background is required. During the 15 years in power of the Awami League, the party stacked the High Court with loyalist Judges, many of whom were also of a low calibre. Now the Awami League is out of power, there is a very legitimate issue of how to deal with these judges.

On August 11th - two days after the interim government was sworn into power - the then Chief Justice and five other members of the Appellate Division resigned after thousands of students surrounded the court. (This happened after evidence came to light suggesting that the appellate division was, that very day, seeking to overturn the legitimacy of the interim government in a new court order.) Whilst, the optics of this were not good, at the same time this may well have been the only way to avoid a constitutional crisis that could have seriously destablised the country.

A new Chief Justice and appellate division were appointed - along with 23 new High Court Judges. (I will write about concerns relating to their appointment on another ocasion)

Since then, the question has been what to do with all the highly partisan pro-AL judges.

On Tuesday, a group of supreme court lawyers organised a protest demanding the resignation or removal of 30 lawyers. That evening, one of the student leaders, posted on Facebook their intention to try and force the judges out: "In demand of the resignation of the fascist judges of the Awami League, we will besiege the High Court ...", one wrote. And on Wednesday (yesterday) that is exactly what happened, students again marched on the court.

Now, it is understood that many of these judges have been asked to resign, but they have refused to do so - and neither the Chief Justice, nor the President, can simply sack a judge. At the end of Wednesday, in a kind of compromise the Chief Justice yesterday put 12 High Court judges on leave. "The 12 judges are not being assigned to any benches at this time, meaning they will not be able to participate in judicial proceedings," the supreme court registrar general stated.

Now, how does one legally remove a judge in Bangladesh?

There used to be a process of getting rid of judges - setting up a Supreme Judicial Council where allegations against judges could be made. The Awami League government sought, through a constitutional amendment, to remove this provision and give to Parliament the power of sacking a judge However, in 2017, the then Justice Sinha's Appellate Division struck the amendment down as unconstitutional (a decision that resulted in the government forcing Sinha from his position of Chief Justice.)

The Awami League government filed an application to review the Appellate Division decision, a matter that is in fact before the court on 20 October, in three days time. Now, in order for the Supreme Judicial Council to again to become available as a mechanism to remove judges, all that needs to happen is for the Attorney General to withdraw the review application, so that Sinha's decision striking down the constitutional amendment stands.

Effectively, it seems the demands for the judges to resign now, before 20 October, was an attempt to try and avoid having to use the Supreme Judicial Council.

However, it is important that the process of removal of judges is done in a legal and proper manner, and the Supreme Judicial Council is the right forum to allow this to happen. Let those who make allegations of pro-AL bias and corruption put together the evidence and present it to the SJC, and let the SJC determine whether it is sufficient for judges to be sacked. Too many people right now are losing their jobs simply on the basis of allegations, rather than substantive evidence of wrong-doing.

As for the students. The terrible irony is that they never fail to use the term "fascistic" when describing the Awami League (and they may well be right in doing so) but there is nothing more emblematically "fascistic" than a mob of people marching to a court and demanding that Judges resign. This is as far away from due process and rule of law as one can be, and the students have unfortunately demeaned themselves in getting involved in this.

What students should be demanding is for those lawyers who have allegations against these judges to put in the hard work of actually putting together the evidence to substantiate the allegations they make, so that it can be presented to the Supreme Judicial Council.
https://t.co/KIPPkr66Q7

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

#Bangladesh

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

#CHT #Gaza

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

Anyone struggling with #Law #courses in the #UK , get in touch with me for tailored private #tuition | Enrolling Oct 2024 #BTC #LLB #LLM #Masters #SQE #GDL #EnglishLaw #Tutoring #Globally

[Prothom Alo @ProthomAlo]

বিস্তারিত কমেন্টে...
#bangladesh #prothomalo #palonews #district

[Ministry of Foreign Affairs @BDMOFA]

MoFA has lodged a formal protest to the Govt of India on the killing of a 13-year-old Bangladeshi girl, Shwarna Das of Juri upazila of Moulvibazar district, who was shot by BSF of India on 01 September 2024.

[Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh @ChiefAdviserGoB]

All 57 Bangladeshis who were earlier convicted by the UAE Federal Court have been granted pardon by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE, today.

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

March to break chain! Women take to the streets from Shahbag to the Parliament Building at midnight, demanding equality in the newly independent Bangladesh. #WomensRights #Bangladesh #GenderEquality #Politics #RapeLawReform #Justice

[Sara Wahedi @SaraWahedi]

We have reached a critical tipping point.

The Taliban has now banned any interviews or questions from journalists on women and girls’ education.

They are making it clear – women and girls will not return. We warned this day would come. The world didn’t listen.

[Sara Wahedi @SaraWahedi]

Personal news: after months of stress, my U.K. visa is approved.

I’m heading to Oxford University.

Thinking of my grandmother, who was married off at 16. My mom, who the Taliban banned from school in the 90s. My sisters in Afghanistan, who cannot study.

You’re with me. ❤️

[Sara Wahedi @SaraWahedi]

We’re living through the terrible consequence of desensitization through social media.

There was a time when one image from the Ethiopian famine crisis of the 80s glued 40% of the global population to their TVs for Band Aid.

Floods of horrific images have turned us to stone.

[Asif Saleh @asifsaleh]

Bangladesh is facing the worst flash floods we've seen in three decades. We've got 5000 of our staff on the ground. All your support matters right now. Please give generously: https://t.co/oMwdJpL2rv

[Waariithah Ahsan @fwalive]

We live in a society that seems sadistic; while we demand national accolades and homage for some, we completely overlooked the need for a national day of mourning for the BDR #mutiny in 2009 #Bangladesh