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‘Like Eid’: Bangladeshis hail landmark election, many vote after 17 years

‘Like Eid’: Bangladeshis hail landmark election, many vote after 17 years

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Standing in a long queue at a government school in the capital Dhaka, Hasan Hoque, a former teacher, laughs and chats with a group of men who just arrived to cast their ballots. “It’s been a while standing in this line, but nothing matches the feeling of casting my own vote. It feels like a festival,” Hoque told Al Jazeera, smiling. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The last time he voted was in 2008 – the year former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned to power and allegedly rigged subsequent elections until her autocratic 15-year regime was challenged by a student-led uprising in 2024, toppling her government and forcing her into exile in India. “The elections we had after 2008 were farcical and one-sided under Awami League,” Hoque said, referring to Hasina’s political party, which was barred from elections after the uprising. “They would cast our votes themselves, so we were not even needed at the polling centres in those years.” That changed on Thursday as Bangladesh held its first parliamentary election since the 2024 uprising, with the country of 173 million people seeking a return to democracy after years of turmoil. Alongside choosing a new parliament, people also voted in a referendum to endorse the so-called “July Charter”, a document born out of the 2024 uprising that proposes sweeping constitutional reforms in order to save the country from future authoritarian rule. ‘Eid-like atmosphere’ Like Hoque, Jainab Lutfun Naher had also returned to the polling booth after 17 years. Advertisement “I was pregnant with my daughter in 2008. Today I voted again, and my daughter is now 17,” the voter from Dhaka’s Gulshan area told Al Jazeera. “It feels absolutely great to vote.” Naher said the day felt emotional and empowering – and allowed her hope. “I want this country to prosper,” she said. “I want it to be democratic, where everyone has rights and freedoms.” The people’s hopes are pinned on two alliances that were in the fray in Thursday’s vote – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, and the Jamaat-e-Islami-led coalition of 11 parties, which includes the National Citizen Party (NCP), founded by the youth activists who ousted Hasina. Voting took place in 299 of 300 constituencies, with polling in one seat cancelled following the death of a candidate. The Election Commission declared a turnout of around 48 percent up until 2pm local time (08:00 GMT). A finally tally of the turnout is awaited. Polls closed at 4.30pm (10:30 GMT) on Thursday and official results are expected early Friday morning. Across polling stations in Dhaka, home to 20 parliamentary constituencies, a similar picture emerged: long queues snaking outside school gates and community centres that were turned into polling centres. At one such school, first-time voter Nazmun Nahar said she “was so excited I could hardly sleep last night”. “It felt like Eid,” she told Al Jazeera, referring to the Muslim religious festival and expressing a sentiment also shared by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, who told reporters that people were voting in an exuberant “Eid-like atmosphere”. Reports from elsewhere in the country suggested a similarly festive mood, as the government declared a three-day holiday for the election and millions of voters travelled to their hometowns – many on train rooftops – to cast their vote. Abdur Rahman, a voter in northern Bangladesh who travelled on one such crowded train, said almost everyone he knew — from neighbours to extended family — had returned home to cast their ballots. “We were robbed of the joy of voting for so long,” Rahman said. “None of us wanted to miss this opportunity.” ‘Birthday of a new Bangladesh’ After casting his vote at Gulshan Model High School and College in Dhaka, BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, who is a frontrunner for the post of prime minister, said that if he comes to power, he will “prioritise improving law and order in the country so that people feel secure”. “I am confident of winning the election,” Tarique Rahman told reporters. Advertisement Muhammad Yunus, the head of the interim government formed after the 2024 uprising, cast his ballot at the same centre. “Today is the birthday of a new Bangladesh,” he said. “Through today’s process, people have rejected the past. From today, at every step, we have gained the opportunity to build a new Bangladesh.” Shafiqur Rahman, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, cast his vote at another polling centre in Dhaka. “Through this vote, we hope a government will be formed that does not belong to any individual, family or party, but to the [millions] of people of this country,” he told reporters, calling the election a “turning point” for Bangladesh. Analysts said that while there were scattered allegations of poll malpractices, the election process had largely been peaceful. Asif Mohammad Shahan, professor of development studies at Dhaka University, told Al Jazeera the election did not see “reports of major irregularities”. “Some isolated incidents have occurred, which are of course unwanted, but every election in Bangladesh has had some irregularities. Unless those are serious enough to change the overall result, they do not cross a critical threshold,” he said. Political analyst Dilara Choudhury said a relatively peaceful election is a first step in Bangladesh’s long transition towards democratic normalcy. “Minimal violence in the election is good,” she told Al Jazeera. “If both parties accept the results, it would be a first step for Bangladesh towards a new kind of politics or democratic transition,” she added. But Choudhury cautioned that an election “does not mean a full transition to democracy”, arguing that the next phases would depend on whether governing and opposition forces jointly pursue reforms outlined in the July Charter and institutionalise them – including commitments to accountability, rule of law, and good governance. Meanwhile, Mazeda Begum, a voter at Dhaka’s Civil Aviation School and College polling centre, said she hopes the new government — whoever forms it — will work for the country’s progress,

How Israel used discriminatory laws to strip Palestinians of citizenship

How Israel used discriminatory laws to strip Palestinians of citizenship

Israel’s announcement to revoke the citizenship of two Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks has drawn condemnation from Palestinians, who said that the move “constitutes a grave and alarming precedent” that paves the way for targeting thousands of detainees and former prisoners. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an order on Tuesday revoking the citizenship of two Palestinians, who will be deported from Israel. This is the first time that a 2023 discriminatory law is being used to physically deport Palestinians from Israel. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Why is Israel stripping Palestinians of their citizenship? Netanyahu wrote in an X post on Tuesday: “This morning I signed the revocation of citizenship and deportation of two Israeli terrorists who carried out stabbing and shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and were rewarded for their heinous acts by the Palestinian Authority.” Referring to Ofir Katz, a Knesset member from the Likud party, Netanyahu added: “I thank the Coalition Chairman @OfirKatzMK for leading the law that will deport them from the State of Israel, and many more like them on the way.” One of these men was released from prison for security-related offences in 2024 after serving 23 years, while the other is currently serving an 18-year sentence following a 2016 conviction, according to Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) released a joint statement on Wednesday saying that the decision is based on a discriminatory law, legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in February 2023. Advertisement The 2023 law made it easier for authorities to strip citizenship or residency from Palestinians jailed for what Israel defines as “acts of terror”. The law targets Palestinian citizens of Israel, and Palestinians in the occupied and illegally annexed East Jerusalem who hold Israeli residency. It states that the Palestinians can lose their citizenship or residency after being convicted or charged for an “act of terrorism” and receiving money from the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank. Hassan Jabareen, general director of Adalah, dubbed it “a very, very dangerous law”. “This will be a very hard precedent against Palestinian citizens. It will open the way to transfer them based on political reasons,” Jabareen told Al Jazeera. “This is the first law that we know in any Western democracy that allows the state to revoke the citizenship of their citizens only for political reasons. “As Netanyahu said, this is just the beginning. This means that they are going to revoke more and more citizenships. This is a way of transferring Palestinian citizens,” who make up about 20 percent of Israel’s overall population of about 10 million people. Jabareen added that the Israeli government has done this to stoke tension between Palestinian citizens and the state ahead of the October legislative elections. The Israeli “right wing” wants to be seen as attacking Palestinians for “populist reasons and for electoral reasons”, Jabareen said. Prior to the 2023 legislation, the Citizenship Law of 1952 already allowed for the revocation of citizenship or residency of Palestinians in Israel and Jerusalem on the grounds of “breach of loyalty to the State of Israel”. “Breach of loyalty” is defined to include carrying out an “act of terror,” aiding or soliciting such an act, or “taking an active part” in a “terrorist organisation,” among other activities. ‘Apartheid’: Which other Israeli laws discriminate against Palestinians? The 2023 citizen revocation law is aimed primarily at Palestinians and adds to a longstanding body of legislation that is applied differently to Palestinians in Israel than to Jewish Israelis. There are currently about 100 Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens in Israel and Palestinian residents of the occupied Palestinian territory, according to Adalah. In 2018, Israel’s parliament adopted a controversial “Jewish nation-state” law defining the country as a Jewish homeland, further marginalising Palestinian citizens of Israel. The law stipulates that Jewish people have “an exclusive right to national self-determination”. Advertisement Last November, Israel passed a first draft of a death penalty bill, introducing capital punishment for those convicted of killing Israelis if they had “racist” motives or were doing it “with the aim of harming Israel”. The bill is under discussion in the Knesset. Legal experts say the law is discriminatory in how it defines “terrorism”. Palestinians’ attacks will most likely be dubbed “racist”, attracting the death penalty. In a statement on February 3, Amnesty International called on Israel to abandon the bill, warning that the measures would violate international law and “further entrench Israel’s apartheid system” against Palestinians. Amnesty’s statement said: “If adopted, these bills would distance Israel from the vast majority of states which have rejected the death penalty in law or in practice, while further entrenching its cruel system of apartheid against all Palestinians whose rights Israel controls.” Last week, the Israeli cabinet passed measures aimed at expanding its power across the occupied West Bank, making it easier to seize Palestinian land illegally. This has come despite the 2024 UN resolution calling for an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank. How many Palestinians live in Israel? There are about 1.9 million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship as of 2019, according to Israel’s census. Most are descendants of Palestinians who remained inside Israel when it was founded in 1948. About 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled, and thousands more were killed by the Zionist militias, in the lead-up to Israel’s creation. Israel continues to block their right of return while granting Jews from across the world the right to immigrate to Israel, as well as to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. More than 750,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements built on Palestinian-owned land in the occupied West Bank. In very limited cases, Palestinians who hold residency in East Jerusalem can apply to obtain Israeli citizenship. They have to undergo a difficult naturalisation process, and a small number can apply via family links – but for most Palestinians in

US border chief says Trump agrees to end deportation surge in Minnesota

US border chief says Trump agrees to end deportation surge in Minnesota

US border chief announces the conclusion of a federal operation with 700 immigration agents set to leave Minnesota. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 12 Feb 202612 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Tom Homan, the US border security chief, says that the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths is coming to an end. “As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” Homan said at a news conference on Thursday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “I have proposed, and President [Donald] Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude.” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota on December 1 as Trump frequently rebuked the state and its seizable Somali community. Homan said ICE operations would continue as they did before the operation began. “Through targeted enforcement operations based on reasonable suspicion, and prioritising safety and security, ICE will continue to identify, arrest, and remove illegal aliens who pose a risk to public safety, as we’ve done for years,” he said. Federal authorities say the sweeps focused on the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area have led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people. While the Trump administration has called those arrested “dangerous criminal illegal aliens”, many people with no criminal records, including children and US citizens, have also been detained. Minnesota Tim Walz  said on Thursday he was “cautiously optimistic” after the Trump administration’s announcement of drawing down the immigration crackdown in his state. “They left us with deep damage, generational trauma,” Walz told reporters. “They left us with economic ruin in some cases.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also welcomed the announcement, likening the immigration operation to military occupation. Advertisement “They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation,” Frey wrote on X “These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American.” Reporting from the White House House Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said the operation of Minnesota proved to be a public relations “disaster” for Trump, citing opnion polls that showed public opposition to ICE’s tactics. “It was bad publicity for Donald Trump, and he was getting a great deal of criticism, not just from Democrats, not just from people in the state, but from Republicans around the country as well – that this was not the image that they wanted to portray,” Fisher said. Holman’s announcement came as US legislators were holding hearings questioning government officials over the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which saw mass protests and the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents. Adblock test (Why?)