Shakib, Aug. 9 -- On the morning after Shakib Al Hasan's home in Dhaka was petrol-bombed, Bangladesh's Sports Minister delivered the political verdict: the country's most celebrated cricketer would never play for Bangladesh again. His offense was attending a press conference.

the first public address the exiled former prime minister had given since her departure from Bangladesh two years ago. The appearance lasted minutes. The consequences, Sports Minister Aminul Haque declared, would be permanent. "Someone who has taken the stage with the autocrat no longer has any opportunity to return," he told reporters, as Al Jazeera reported. The government would no longer extend "flexibility and tolerance" toward Shakib.

The word "autocrat" is th...