Those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 should be prosecuted and, if found guilty by due process, severely punished.
But the trials have been conducted under a law dating from 1973 which is not compliant with international norms. The US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; the International Center for Transitional Justice; the International Bar Association; the UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group and the UK Bar association have all expressed concern about the provisions of the law and the procedures followed by the “International Crimes Tribunal”.
The latest development has been the resignation of the Tribunal chairman, Md Nizamul Huq, following the publication on YouTube of 17 hours of clandestine Skype conversations between himself and a Bangladeshi expatriate lawyer in Belgium, Dr Ahmed Ziauddin.
When The Economist telephoned Mr Huq on December 5, the judge appeared to say that he hadn’t talked to anybody about the proceedings of the Tribunal, but the YouTube recording proved that he consulted Ziauddin on matters such as the framing of charges, the coaching of witnesses, coordinating with the prosecution, and the selection of judges.
The new chairman of the Tribunal, Fazle Kabir, brought in to replace Huq, will be preparing his judgement without having heard any of the arguments. Is the judgement to be based on Ziauddin’s draft prepared in mid-October, before the defence even began their closing arguments?
Meanwhile, two of the defendants have petitioned for a retrial on the basis of the taped conversations, but the government have obtained a court order banning any reference to them in spite of the fact that they were published in the journal Amar Desh and are now also on the internet.
An application is also being made for the dismissal of a prosecution lawyer, alleged to be involved in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The new judge will have to wrestle with these problems while getting up to speed with the masses of evidence, both oral and written.
In all the furore over the judge’s egregious breach of judicial ethics, the media have forgotten another recent scandal: the kidnapping by a special police unit from the entrance to the Tribunal on November 5 and the subsequent disappearance of a key defence witness Ranjan Bali. His wife has no idea where he is being held or even if he is still alive.
There should be an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. The case for a retrial should be considered by the International Bar Association, and the government of Bangladesh should listen to their advice. And the UN Working Group on Disappearances should ask the government of Bangladesh for an invitation to visit the country and make inquiries about the disappearance of Ranjan Bali.
* Eric Lubbock, Lord Avebury, is a working peer, and Vice-Chair, Parliamentary Human Rights Group. He blogs here.
469 Comments
While I certainly support fairness and openness in trials, I wonder whether we may be over-reacting as outsiders? This seems to be an appeal to interfere with the sovereignty and culture of a country. Bangladesh seems to be attempting to deal with its past, and I wonder to what extent outsiders have a right to interfere with that process of learning and correction? Why should we impose “our” norms?
Do we need to be a bit careful in how we react? Obviously it is awful if police feel free to kidnap a key defense witness. But that practice would be something that the Bangladeshi’s need to fight, with our support but not our imposition. All these legal cases are complicated and the actors get up to all sorts of tricks. Might we be risking getting embroiled in a complex defense strategy to muddy waters?
Not being a legal eagle, I missed the reason why a judge is forbidden to take advice – was it because the advice was not recorded, or are we claiming the judge was incompetent? A judge has many duties, apart from sentencing. Is there a jury in this case? If so, perhaps the judge’s role to determine a sentence if found guilty does not require a detailed knowledge of the evidence? Surely there are sentencing guidelines?
I honestly respect Mr. Eric’s stand for the Justice and Fairness. Most of the Bangladeshis are deeply concerned about the Skype Conversation. Clearly , not only the judge broke the code of conduct, but also there has been collusion between the law minister, state minister, chief prosecutor, Supreme court judge, and Ahmed Ziauddin bringing the tribunal in disrepute and going against natural Justice. We believe UN must interfere and Investigate the issue. And without re-trial this tribunal would be unacceptable to the general people of Bangladesh.
Mr. Richard Dean, I believe you don’t know actually what have been said in the conversation. without prior Knowledge about what had been said, I believe this kind of comment is undesirable. Please go to this link to find out how judge broke the code of conduct and how this tribunal is nothing but a Drama : http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200365907494843&set=vb.1369760936&type=2&theater
For your kind information, Bangladeshis want to try the real War criminals. But they don’t want any injustice in the name of war crimes against those innocent people. It is not wrong to interfere if someone feel they are standing for the Justice.
I think it’s an obligation for the international community to intervene, as Bangladesh have broken a number of international laws and treaties which they are party. This includes the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights especially article 9. Note that Bangladesh is a signatory of this treaty. Other violations include breaching the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, again article 9 in particular.
Mr Richard, I think without knowing the conversation content, we should not comment on it. I would like to request you please visit http://www.tribunalleaks.be and read the http://my.telegraph.co.uk/sattaunusanditsu/sattaunusandhani/6/tribunal-leaks/
…The conversation between Mr. Justice Huq and Dr. Ziauddin clearly show extensive executive interference, in particular that of the State Minister for Law, with the process of the Tribunal. Furthermore, there is evidence to show that the erstwhile Chairman of the Tribunal had been offered promotion to the Appellate Division) upon disposal of as many as three cases. Click here for details…….
thank you.
Thanks Mr. Eric for expressing impartial opinion regarding so called ICT developed to crush opposition .
I’m sure the situation is dire, and I don’t want to be disputatious on Christmas day, but this is a free country, and people can express different opinions and have different thoughts. There is no way that my comments can be classed as undesirable just because they don’t jive with someone else’s intentions.
This is also a democracy, and as such a person does not need to be an expert on a matter in order to have an opinion or make a statement or ask a question. Anyone is free to do that, and it is the learning that comes from such actions that makes the democracy grow strong.
Bangladesh is a big country, and its people know what justice is and how it looks. If one person claims that the courts are corrupt, and another claims the opposite, and the case is not yet over, how can I know who is telling truth? Mr Lubbock and others are correctly basing their appeal on the natures of the procedures rather than on the guilt or innocence of the accused, which presently seems to be undecided – indeed the argument is about how a decision should be arrived at, not what the decision should be.
A fish may feed a hungry person for a day, but the knowledge of how to fish will allow that person to eat for a lifetime. Perhaps a UN intervention will help for this day, but how will “Most of the Bangladeshis” learn to protect their rights for a lifetime? How will their democracy grow strong, if outsiders always do it for them?
It is indeed true that the impunity for the crimes of 1971 (and all other crimes, for that matter) should end; but the international community cannot allow that to happen at a Kangaroo court.
Why not try them at the ICC in Hague?
(on a side note: there is no problem in seeking advice by a judge; but the concern is when the judgments are written for a judge by an outsider)
First of all thanks for your article .
As a Bangladeshi I am very much aware of the on going drama about this tribunal . Like every other Bangladeshi we all want war criminals free Bangladesh . But what is going on in Bangladesh is nothing but a dirty political game . This tribunal is completely politically motivated . The present government named this tribunal – International crimes tribunal . But none of its law or standers is comply with international standers . Governments not giving pemison to any international lawyer in to this tribunal ! Government only traying opposion leaders but where there are war criminals in the rulling party itself . Witness been abduceted form the gate of the tribunal ! Judges taking all sort of help outside of law – Even sending key documents to out side and out sider giving direct order . This tribunal lost all of its creadibality . We want fair trial not political trial . This tribunal should be abolished immidieatly . For fair trial move those cases to icc . Very much concerned about those victim of this tribunal .
Thanks
Thanks Mr Eric Avebury for bringing the matter into our notice and i strongly agree with you. Thanks very much.
Thanks LA
I bileve that international community should intervene now be puss after the Skype conversation it is clear that they trying to kill innocent opposition leaders without justice this is unecceptable.
Thank you for your advice. This is true what you said, But Awamileage Govt not listening from anyone. they want to hang opositions anyhow. This Tribunals have only word international, nothing else international.
should be retrial or close the chapter,
Full cabinet is corrupted & shameless 🙁
Each and every moment thy are violating human rights, even though dont care int.law and regulation. in december, at least 300 activists has been arrested without any accuse and evidence, here whole prison is heavy over loaded included honorable educated persons, modest women as well.
government is nakedly involved with awful violation to innocent civilians.police killed at least 5 activists through open shooting to their movement.
It’s stranger that judge and honorable court nakedly biased and politically motivated..
only god can safe this country’s ppl..!
Thank you Mr. Eric Avebury for supporting the rights of Bangldeshis . This War crime tribunal is totally biased and influenced by government. This government of Bangladesh violating Human rights everyday in the name of Democracy. We, the youth of Bangladesh also want war crime trial BUT it should be under UN and international law. Which would bring justice. This trial would be history for our nation, so it should not be political motivated . All WAR CRIMINALS of 1971 should be under this trial including member of government party, Pakistani Army, Government officer in 71 and other sector people who were directly involved in war crimes. There should be a free and fair trial. Everyone deserves JUSTICE.
Thank you Mr. Avebury
Yes. You Are Right.
dear sir ,
Mr .
Eric ave bury thanks for your honest thinking’s & writings about the so called war tribunal made for killing of opposition political leader in Bangladesh by ruling government . Its the matter which has resolved by late sheakh mujibur rahman regime after 1971 . But the present awwami league government trying to hang up their political opponent as they couldn’t made them agree with their points . Even most of Bangladeshi people want a transparent war crime tribunal so that the real criminal could be identified & got punishment under the rules of law . we demand to fund out the real master min who had been killing , raping & destroying our peoples belongings . I wish the inter national community , human rights authority will come and work with our Bangladeshi government & have better the war crime tribunal need to transfer under the UNO war crime tribunal court . Because all the past conspiracy proved that Bangladesh government is trying to do a camera trial by name of war crime tribunal here the real culprits could n,t punished , the innocent people should n,t hang up under the fake political game !!
I appreciate Lord Avebury’s voice of concern for the sham trial that is taking place in Bangladesh in the name of “International Crime Tribunal (ICT)”. There is nothing International about this tribunal except it’s name as Mr. Avebury rightly pointed out, it is devoid of fairness and justice of any standard. This is politically motivated trial in order to exterminate the opposion political leaders under the cover of prosecuting so-called war criminals.
Bangladesh Awami League (the party currently ruling Bangladesh) is a fascist party which can’t tolerate any opposition, so they use all kind of destructive and violent measures when they are in opposition to topple the ruling governments and when they come to the power then they use state machineries to destroy other political parties by killing. murdering, abducting opposition. They were in power during 1972-1975 (Current Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina’s father Shaikh Mujib’s regime) 30,000 opposition political party men were killed, abducted. And now we are seing the reapeat of the similar episode – 10 top Jamaat-e-Islamai leaders are in the prison where they are facing summary execution by this Kangaroo tribunal while 18,000 of their party men are imprisoned and many are killed, abducted. So the nascent democracy in Bangladesh is in jeopardy unless the world community stand-up and stop this fascist regime to roll back their extermination policies.
In my judegement Lord Avebury just did that by raising his concerned voice by urging Bangladesh govt. to follow the internatioanl norms. Who else could be better suited than him since he is leading the Parliamentary Human Right Group? So I thank him once again for his role in upholding justice and human rights in every country of the world, including Bangladesh.
Its a solved issue. Sk Hasina Govt. using this as an instrument oppress her opposition party leaders. Every one knows if they go for fair judgement , they will not be able punish any one, and their ill motive will never achieve.
There should be an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers & stop the tribunal.
We should stand for justice & raise our voice infavour of justice without fear & viousness. Due to political veiwpoint the present govt.takeup this agenda to abolish the Islamic party by giving punishment some top leaders as they declared openly when case is running. So it is clear to all that what they want. They want to hangup them any way but it will not be accepted to the people. The people want punishment of war-criminals like 195 pakistani solders who were accoused as warcriminal after investigation. Who freed them ? Due to justice they must be placed before court, then next begin trial the collaborators with free & fairness trial.
I appreciate Lord Avebury for this wonderful piece of article. He has rightly pointed out the flaws of of current trial process. While it is important that a nation reconcile with its past, it is also important that in doing so, justice has not been denied and human right is upheld at any cost. The current trial process is controversial as it is dubbed as a kangaroo trial, which is being used to suppress the opposition voice. The so called International War Crime Tribunal act was adopted in 1973 to try the 195 identified alleged war criminal of Pakistan who were later pardoned by tripartite treaty between India Bangladesh and Pakistan. People who are facing trial under this law today are all Bangladeshi, whereas the law was clearly produced for trying foreigner. None of the accused was identified as war criminals at the beginning of the nation’s independence and all of who were young men in their late teen, early twenties in 1971. Now these civilians are facing trial of committing genocide, which is utter absurd. If these people had committed war crime, how come there were not a single case even a GD were not filed against them when the memory of the war was still fresh. A separate law was adopted which ‘called collaborator act’ for those Bangladeshi who actively helped Pakistani Army. Even under this law only a handful of people were accused, later Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had no other option but to repeal the law and called for national unity.
After 40 years this trial process has started for merely a political purpose. When this is the case the International Community cannot stay indifferent regarding what his happening in Bangladesh in the name reconciliation with the past. The newly formed tribunal that came to its existence in 2010 had been given the name ‘The International War Crime Tribunal’ when there are no international standard maintained. The entire trial has become a farce after revealing of 17 hours of clandestine Skype conversation and exchange of many emails between Justice Nijamul Huq Nasim, former Chairman and a so-called expert Mr. Ziauddin from Brussels. It is evident that this Ahmed Ziauddin cooked the whole process. If justice has to ensured it cannot be done with conspiracy. If Bangladeshis are to be tried for war crime everyone responsible for committing war crime should be brought to justice regardless of their political affiliation. In that case the in laws of Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina should also face the trial as their role as collaborators of Pakistan is well evidenced.
Thank you Mr. Eric Avebury. Thanks also to Liberal Democrat Voice for this truth news.
Thanks and appreciate for raising the issue. First of all, the start of tribunal was not fare. (2), the Mawlana Saydee was arrested with other issue. (3), instead of start the tribunal fairly, only one party leaders were arrested for trial. (4) Trial is totally unfair because of its nature, activities. The were given only one month to take statement of its witness but the govt. took nine months (5) During trial, there was threat from govt to the wintesses not to attend in court. (6) The speech of present Govt leader in the open filed regarding the result of tribunal are declared prior tribunal decision. Skype discussion open all the conspiracy of govt.
So I do not support this tribunal . I hate such injustice.
Thanks Mr. Eric Lubbock for true voice.
It is impossible in Bangladesh to protest against corruption some of value $ 1 against Govt. people. They are doing business.
Thank your for the write-up. I agree with you and appreciate current Bangladesh government’s willingness to try the war criminals of 1971 war, although it was resolved by the government immediately after the liberation war. However excluding the initially proven 195 war criminals from Pakistan army has made the move seriously questionable and raised the concern that it is designed to intimidate the opposition. Those who have been arrested for these trial are all from opposition party (BNP and BJI), and none from Awami League, despite the allegation that those who committed crimes against humanity during 1971 also do exist in the ruling party. The trial lacks any credibility due to many weaknesses that includes the lengthy pre-charge detention of suspects, interrogation without counsel present, inability to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal, lack of presumption of innocence, potential for self-incrimination, lack of protections for witnesses and victims etc. Despite the 17 recommendations made by the International Bar Association to make the tribunal compatible with international standard, almost nothing has been changed. Similarly, the government had ignored the recommendations made by the United Nations, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, Human Rights Watch and US Ambassador at Large Stephen Rapp. The judges, the investigators and the prosecutors have been drawn from the background with ruling party, making it unacceptable to anyone except the ruling party. Recently we have seen that the international lawyers for the accused have been barred to enter Bangladesh and defend the accused. Therefore, it is no wonder that the experts in field has called the ICT a politically motivated podium of unfair trial.
Immediately after the 1971 Bangladesh war, the issue of war crimes was raised by the then government. International Crimes Tribunal Act (ICTA), 1973 act was passed. After investigation 195 Pakistani military personnel was indicted out of 93000 soldiers surrendered after the war. They were pardoned by an agreement among India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 1972 collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order (Collaborators Order) was promulgated. Around 100000 people were arrested and investigated under this law. Fact Finding Committee was formed in each sub-district level to carry out proper investigation. 73 tribunals were formed and 2848 cases were settled by those tribunals. Only 752 people were convicted and 2096 people were not found guilty. Even a collaborator Chikon Ali was given death penalty on 11 June 1972. After that a general amnesty was declared and the act was repealed later. By all these it is becoming quite clear that war crimes issue has been resolved just after the 1971 war. Even then, any aggrieved party can file criminal case against anyone for the crimes during 1971 which can be settled by regular criminal law and in a regular court. But current Awami League government has formed a special tribunal to try alleged war criminals under International Crimes Tribunal Act, 1973 (amended in 2009). It is important to note this act was promulgated to try Pakistani Soldiers not any Bangladeshi citizens. But in section 3(1) of the amended act, the government has included the phrase “individual or group of individuals” so as to allow trial of civilians under this act. But this law denies fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution for all the citizens. And first constitutional amendment was done to deny this right.
Govt. arrested some top leaders from the two opposition political parties and kept them behind the bar for more than one year without framing any charge against them violating Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”).
According to the news paper reports investigation procedure was not transparent and politically motivated. When investigation officers went anywhere they were surrounded by ruling party musclemen barring common people to reach to the investigation officers. Opposition party leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said this trial is a trick to divide the nation. That means the government’s political approach to a sensitive issue like war crimes trial failed them to create a national consensus.
Even the tribunal proceedings seemed to be biased. The tribunal passed an order which allowed 15 unsigned statements to be admitted as evidence without the relevant witnesses being brought to court.
At least 3 of them gave Television interviews denying giving any statement to the Investigation Officer. One witness turned as a defense witness and testified for the accused. He said that he didn’t give statement to investigation officer. This implies a serious deception by prosecution.
Very recently the tribunal chairman has resigned as his conversation in skype with a person closely related to prosecution was leaked in a national newspaper. London based reputed magazine Economist said they have the content which if true would pose serious question about the tribunal.
Considering all these and specially after the Skypeleaks, now it is highly necessary to dismiss the tribunals and the trial may be started under the supervision of UN with international judges and act that is of international standard.
I agree with Mr. Richard Dean, these are valid questions “A fish may feed ….. Perhaps a UN intervention will help for this day, …… if outsiders always do it for them?” In my opinion Bangladeshi people understand what is democracy and most of the people are in favor of justice and rule of law. But government did not pay heed to all these domestic or international criticisms and kept on with the proceedings. UN intervention is important to rescue these majority people from this fascist regime.
Thanks Mr. Eric Lubbock for true voice.
Thanks Mr Eric Avebury for Article. We want Justice, not a political game. But in Bangladesh now just make a political drama called ‘War Crime or crimes against humanity Tribunal’. No more. We want stop it.
Thank u very much Lord Eric for your writing in favour of humanity, justice, fair trial. We want a stop of this completely biased trial.
Thank you Mr Eric Lubbock for your true voice.
Well I can see the opposition is certainly organised! 🙂 Rarely have so many comments arrived in such a short space of time, expecially after the original article languished for almost a day without any comment at all. I am sure there is much to be learned here.
Thanks Mr. Eric’s stand for the Justice and Fairness
h ahmed
many many thanks you Mr. Eric Avebury. Thanks also to Liberal Democrat Voice for this truth news.
we are oppressed by our tyran goverment, you are a voiceless so please do some think for our beloved country , my people remember you forever.
Thank you so much Eric Avebury for your nice & time demanded article. As you explained “the trials have been conducted under a law dating from 1973 which is not compliant with international norms. The US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; the International Center for Transitional Justice; the International Bar Association; the UK Parliamentary Human Rights Group and the UK Bar association have all expressed concern about the provisions of the law and the procedures followed by the “International Crimes Tribunal”, So we general people of Bangladesh are also concerned about justice but present govt wants anyhow sentence as it is their political desire which is clear to all after skype conversation comes into light. So, we demand to stop this political tribunal & no trial should be proceed under this government..
The BBC do quite a balanced report, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20677752. The tribunal is obviously acting in a highly politicized context, but its task is presumably to ascertain fact first, before any blame is assigned. Does Mt Avebury, or Amnesty, or others have evidence that it is not doing this? Or these just suspicions, or even unfounded accusations by the defendents as a way of getting off?
Bangladesh is a democracy, and “The Awami League’s Sheikh Hasina won with a landslide in the 2008 elections and took the oath of Prime Minister on 6 January 2009. They got 230 seats among 300 seats in the parliament” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh.Are) Mr Avebury and/or the British people being asked to go againts the wishes of the majority of the Bangladeshi electorate?
All types of questions and accusations seem to be banded around in this case. But is the publication of the judge’s private conversations lawful? helpful? Why should an outsider not give credibility to the government;s claim that the judge simply “wanted to have some information on procedural law, which anybody can have from an expert”?
Thank you very much Mr. Eric for your article. Please support to stop the injustice made by completely politically motivated tribunal in Bangladesh.
Thank you for short but very informative account on ICT in Bangladesh. Yes, it was a very bloody war occurred in 1971. Main perpetrators were Pakistani (west Pakistan) government and army. But, right after the independence, instead of bringing all those army to justice, by the mediation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, they all were freely sent back to Pakistan in the name of ‘peace and reconciliation’. Later, Shaikh Mujib government enact the law to put to trial all those who were committing heinous crime during the ’71 war such as arson, rape, killing etc.. A good number of perpetrators were identified. Later, some of them were, released because of lack of evidences, some were put into jail to serve their terms and at least one was sentenced to death by the court. But, NONE of the individuals who are now behind the bars, were in the list back in Shaik Mujib time and NOT a single charge was filed to any police station against them. Even when Awami League fell short of simple majority in the parliament, they sought the help of Jamaati Islami to get majority to form govt. In 1996 Awami League formed govt. with Jamaat, and AL never called Jamaat people as war criminals. But when the shift the side—came with BNP govt, overnight they became war criminals and they need to face trial for the unknown crime they committed in ’71.
From the very beginning of the ICT formation by Awami League, it remains suspicious and vindictive and partisan attitude was working behind the scene. People want to see the real perpetrators of ’71 are brought to justice. But the whole nation is suspicious and confused about the process Awami League is pursuing. The latest skype leaks are the vivid proof of the real motive of the government. Now, it is impossible to get fair trail and justice in any court happened in Bangladesh by Bangladesh govt.
A developing county of 160m people can’t afford to endure chaos and disorder. People say, no justice, no peace. This is the time UN should intervene and take care the whole matter on international standards and credible way. Skype leaks prove that high level govt personnel are involved in contaminating the verdict of the court. So, no way Bangladesh govt. is trusted at least on ICT issue.
We like to see international community to step in to have an acceptable fair trial of the heinous crimes committed and against the humanity, no matter what party they are belonged to or how powerful they are. We want to see no manipulation of justice, we like to see fair justice is served if some one found guilty. Justice brings solace and peace in the society.
Thanks Mr. Eric Lubbock for true voice.This War crime tribunal is totally biased and influenced by government.There should be an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers & stop the tribunal.
Thank you Honorable Lord Avebury for your timely voice against a Kangaroo Court in Bangladesh. Please pursue to the international authority to dismantle this kangaroo tribunal which has been trying to do the injustices of the century. I pray for your long life and Omnipotent’s guidance.
Thanks for raising this issue. I appreciate it, as it is a burning issue for Bangladesh. The people of Bangladesh are so simple and easy, except some corrupted and dishonest politicians and their followers. When present Govt came to the power about four years ago it promised to the nation that justice would be done in terms of the trial of war criminals. People belived the Govt in simply and hoped that a chapter from the history of Bangladesh will be closed by the justice of war criminals. But it is very unfortunate that Govt is playing game with the nation and trying to cheat and fraud the nation in the name of trial of war criminals. Govt appointed judges, prosecution team and investigation officers all from their political party. And over the last few months the nation deeply observed that the total process has flawed. It has made clear by the skype conversation between the x Chairman of the tribunal and Mr Ziauddin that the motive and objective in forming the ICT was to harrass and oppress the opposition leaders. The Govt is taking political revenge by this tribunal and cheating the nation. This Govt really does not want the justice of war criminals. However, the demand of wise, honest and patriots Bangladeshi is to provide a fair and impartial trial under the direct arrangement and supervision of the United nation. Then justice will be done and no innocent would be punished.
I bileve International community should come forward to investigate current tribulal which is full of biased people including the chief prosecutor who was a political person too. The war crime trial should follow proper Jeneva Convention, not local convention which was created to punish only some political persons.
Our motherland Bangladesh is slowly descending into anarchy. There is currently no law and order and people from opposition groups are being beaten up, abducted and killed regularly. Failure to investigate such crimes suggests these crimes are being committed by the government supporters and the security forces. In some cases, there is overwhelming evidence that the government supporters and the security forces are involved.
The situation isn’t helped when you have a ruling party that is desperate to stay in power and is prepared do anything to stay in power. The current ruling party has resorted to persecuting all political opponents.
Opposition parties are denied political freedom – they are not allowed to be critical of the government and not allowed to hold party meetings or any large gatherings. If opposition groups do decide to participate in any such activities, they face a good chance of being beaten up by the police, arrested and tortured.
People of Bangladesh have painful memories of the atrocities carried out during the 1971 war by the Pakistan army. Some Bengali civilians did assist the Pakistani army to carry out some of the atrocities. Many people have called for those who were involved to face justice and quite rightly.
The War Crimes Tribunal was set up by the ruling party in 2010. Many were suspicious at the time – many feared the ruling party may use the tribunal to target opposition leaders.
Many it seems were right to be suspicious of the ruling party. It wasn’t too long before the ruling party started arresting leaders from the two main opposition parties. This has further fueled the political violence in Bangladesh.
The ruling Awami League party is very determined to destroy, weaken or even eliminate its opponents and what better way to do this, than to accuse your opponents of war crimes which is something very sensitive for the people of Bangladesh and touches the nerve of Bangladeshi people. What they are doing is playing with people’s feelings. It’s gutter politics of the worse kind.
If further evidence was required to support many people’s view that the trials are politically motivated – the ten arrested and charged to date are all political leaders from the two main opposition parties.
The credibility of the trial is questioned by many in Bangladesh and international observers.
The tribunal puts unfair limits on the number of witnesses the defense is allowed.
Tribunal refuses to order investigation into the abduction of defense witnesses.
The defense counsel face constant harassment and their offices are raiding regularly by the police.
Tribunal is quick to suspend members of the defense counsel if they raise any grievance.
The Tribunal will not allow foreign legal representatives or international observers.
It is therefore clear the accused will never be allowed a fair trial. People have become suspicious with the tribunal judges and suspect collusion with government even before recent revelations.
The Economist newspaper reported on leaked e-mail and phone conversation last week, uncovering the interference from government and the judge was found to be discussing the case with a person he wasn’t supposed to.
It was Mr ZiaUddin he was talking to, a government supporter living abroad. This person was drafting the guilty verdict before the trial had even concluded.
Despite all the flaws with the tribunal and international criticism of the tribunal, the ruling party still refuses to halt the trial or allow a retrial. All the accused complain of inhumane treatment.
The Government of Bangladesh comments frequently on the trials and even predicts the outcome of all the trials while it’s still ongoing. Often claiming they will ensure the accused are found guilty and are hanged. It’s clear the government pay no attention to international organizations, when they say this tribunal lacks credibility and falls well below international standard.
It is important we have international observers and international legal representatives to be present at the tribunal, to ensure the accused are not victims of political vendetta.
Any good person should not ignore persecution of non-violent opposition leaders.
Current ruling Awami League party is trying to destroy democracy in Bangladesh. The International Community must step in.
Thank you very much Lord Eric for your writing in favour of humanity, justice, fair trial. We want a stop of this completely biased trial.
Tribunal’s failure to order investigation into defense witness abductions suggests bias and government interference.
I do appreciate Mr. Eric for supporting justice which is denied in so called ICT here by various ways icluding abductinon on witness plain clothed law inforcing agency. Despite of plenty of evidence the abduction was denied. It is already proved that a free and fair trial is almost impossible by this government. It is also proven that this trial is ill motivated just corner the opposition. So many imphortent issues are being neglected. The the terror of the student wing of the rulling party exceeds like anything. Several sectors is being proven corrupted. No one from the government is pointing these as a problem rather pointing the same on others. We do feel the urge of UN iterference to back justice.
I do thank Mr Eric to bring the issue to the attention of international world. We want the criminals in 1971 to be punished but that has to be in free and fair way . But the reason it is being questioned now is because the trial is pretty influenced and political. There are even criminals amongst the ruling party.
However we don’t want any mess, not the trial itself be a cause of a problem again.
We must respect others opinion as well to develop our patience that the nation needs badly.
Dear Mr Eric Lubbock
Thanks a lot for your intitiatives to uphold justice in prosecuting the crimes against humanity comitted during the liberation war in Bangladesh. This trial was commenced not to find out and prosecuting the real criminals but to vanish the political rivals and power factor Jamaat E Islami from political vindeta. There is no due process here, the accused can’t expect any fair trial and justice from this ICT. The international community and dignatories like you should create pressure on Bangladesh government to stop this politically motivated trial.
Thanks mr Eric Avebury for your article regarding socalled International tribunal and human rights in bangladesh pls put presure to the international authority to stop the tribunal.thanks again.
Thank you very much to Mr. Eric for spiking the truth.
Well done Eric Avebury , pls follow up the matter as it progresses. This tribunal should now be dismantled and a new international body should be created under the supervision of ICC and UN to restart the whole process.
I really appreciate the way Lord Eric has pointed out the weak points of the war crime tribunal of Bangladesh. The tribunal seems highly politicized. As a Bangladeshi citizen I am concerned about those innocent people who have been accused for war crime. Many of them were too young to do such things in 1971 but still they have been arrested. Recently police arrested 20 meritorious female students from a flat and didn’t allow them bail and they were taken into 2 days remand without any accusation. The female students are still in jail, they are ruining these student’s life for no reason. We do want International world and UN to help our people in this situation as we can see that this government is trying to use the war crime issue to oppress the opposition parties which will reassure their win in the next public election.
The most important thing is we want UN and all other international organisation to come forward in this regard to establish justice in Bangladesh. We want justice and it seems quite impossible if the current procedure keeps going in Bangladesh in war crime tribunal.
we shouldn’t aginst the islam.. cause allah the almighty, the only one suprime power is everywhere. what ever we do allah watches. allah can do what ever he wants. allah can increase our honour as well as decrease…. so we should be carefull. and dare to allah.
There should be an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. The case for a retrial should be considered by the International Bar Association, and the government of Bangladesh should listen to their advice. And the UN Working Group on Disappearances should ask the government of Bangladesh for an invitation to visit the country and make inquiries about the disappearance of Ranjan Bali.
I’m sure it’s correct for these various organizations to express concern about these various happenings. Expressions of concern can assist those people in the country who want to ensure that justice is done and seen to be done.
It would be quite another thing to take sides in this court case, or to claim that Bangladesh’s system of justice is so corrupted that it needs to be replaced by an external system. If there has been a conspiracy to pervert justice, it is likely to be far better addressed by the people of Bangladesh. Populations tend to have pride in their land and to disapprove of interference from outside. Significant outside intervention could easily harden attitudes against these defendants, having the opposite effect to what seems to be intended.
thank you very much Mr. Eric we really appreciate this
Thanks for true voice mr lubbock
Richard Dean – I understand what you are saying. I am the last person to suppport any intervention from outside, but when you see politics turning violent and ruling party using the tribunal to hang only political opponents, then you have to stand up against such politically motivated acts. As good citizens of the world, we cannot tolerate killing of innocent people. A healthy democracy in Bangladesh is in everyone’s interest, especially the UK.
If the International Community fails to act now, the consequesnce would be the military taking over. Do we want to see Bang;adesh become another Burma?
Thank you very much for your excellent article.
Richard Dean – I understand what you are saying. I am the last person to suppport any intervention from outside, but when you see politics turning violent and ruling party using the tribunal to hang only political opponents, then you have to stand up against such politically motivated acts. As good citizens of the world, we cannot tolerate killing of innocent people. A healthy democracy in Bangladesh is in everyone’s interest, especially the UK.
If the International Community fails to act now, the consequesnce would be the military taking over. Do we want to see Bangladesh become another Burma?
As a Bangladeshi citizen I am concerned about those innocent people who have been accused for war crime.thank you for raising the true voice Mr.eric.
All
Please see for yourself and feel free to publish:
http://www.tribunalleaks.be
Mr. Richard Dean. I’m writing this comment in reply to your Last two Comment!!!
Your said, Your comment cannot be judged as ‘undesirable’ in the sense that just because they don’t jive with someone else’s intentions. No body said that!!! Rather it has been said, it is undesirable to give a comment without prior Knowledge about what is going on in the name of War crimes Tribunal. Which clearly seems you lack from your last two response. You have the right to make a comment or give your Opinion. But it was the content which many opposed. Most Bangladeshis Want international intervention, which you said over-reaction. You supported judge taking advice, but there is a legal procedure. Was that Followed? Does judge told the defense team he is taking necessary advice? Is it fair to give judgement (Judgement on Gulam Azam’s Charge) which was written and sent by some other person who were never in the court? Is it justice to talk and accept a Rough sketch of a Judgement from the outsider before the court proceedings ended? Hope you know the answer. But you avoided it. This is what we said undesirable.
You asked, how can you know who is telling truth? It’s very simple. Clear you mind. Follow this link…Read and Listen Carefully and then Judge: http://www.tribunalleaks.be
Intervention of UN would be a lesson for Bangladesh. They would be careful in future and can use the lesson they learnt from the UN intervention.
With due Respect, Mr. Dean, This is not just a suspicions, or unfounded accusations by the defendants as a way of getting off. US Ambassador on War Crimes, Stephen Rap, pointed out some of the flaws regarding this Tribunal. Many human rights organisation showed evidence and then raised their concern. David Bergman, a neutral Journalist, is writing from the very beginning as a neutral person . You can have a visit on his Blog: http://bangladeshwarcrimes.blogspot.co.uk/
Please watch this documentary to have some idea about the tribunal: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200365907494843&set=vb.1369760936&type=2&theater
Recently, Turkey representatives visited Bangladesh, met with government and Defense lawyers. They commented this tribunal is questionable. Justice and fairness is highly unlikely.
It is true Awami League got the major Vote in 2008 Election. But it is also true , that election was hugely criticized. Just to let you know BNP (Now opposition Party) got around 200 vote in the Previous Election!!! I believe you know about politics, is it not questionable that same party got only 30 vote in 2008 Election!!! However, majority of the people do dislike this government. They lose their credibility. Everyone wants War criminals to be prosecuted. But Bangladeshis do not want this Kangaroo trial to continue. They Want International intervention to ensure Justice and fairness. And for your kind information, real war criminals (195 people from Pakistani Army were identified ) already been forgiven. If UN intervene, those real War Criminals could be tried.
Publication was lawful as they had huge public interest. Economist publish in blog to judge the public interest. within two days they received almost 3000 comment requesting to publish the Recording. Economist and Daily Amar Desh also explained why they think this is not against the Law. Can take advice from outsiders. But it has to be done following right Procedure. I believe you did not had the chance to listen to the Skype Conversation. Listen First…Then Think..I hope you will know the truth….Your Opinion would Change….Finally, For your kind information under this Present Government justice, Fairness is impossible. Not only people in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Community All around the world protested. There was demonstration in UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, France, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Japan and in many other countries. They do not Want the this Kangaroo tribunal . UN intervention is the only Solution to ensure Justice and Fairness.
cant say enough to give thanks to the LORD..in fact by all circumstances that tribunal is to be considered as VOID AB INITIO.
have any one ever seen in any case, restriction of witness number by court ,in modern judicial history???
that court must be dismantled without any delay.
Thank you very much Mr Avebury for your article. This biased tribunal shoud be stopped without any further delay. We want a fair trial with the help help of UN and international judges.
It is perfectly acceptable to comment on some facts and opinions, even if there are other facts that are relevant and not yet considered or available. People do it all the time in a free society. In this particular case it is essential to do so, since no-one knows all the facts.
One of the major issues that has been raised is that of the independence of the judiciary. There is no way that any kind of foreign intervention can make a judiciary independent, or keep it independent. That is one of the tasks of the citizens of the country – to develop institutions and laws and expectations and practices to do that. And I suspect that historians may concur that, unfortunately, these things don’t happen without pain, and that changes don’t last long if they are imposed from outside.
Well, it would certainly be interesting to se what the BBC says is happening there.
I believe that Bangladesh ICT is politically motivated because of following reasons:
No government including the Awami League never attempted to arrest any of these 10 leaders in last 40 years, they were not hiding rather they were sitting next to Hasina in the Bangladesh Parliament elected by the public. Why they suddenly realised that these people who were doing politics with them for last 40 years are the war criminals? They never put it in the election manifestos to try these opposition leaders prior to 2008 elections.
Jamaat is not the only party who opposed and fought against the independence of Bangladesh, other Islamic parties and the pro-China Communist parties were in favour of united Pakistan and were siding with occupying forces. Ironically, some of these communist leaders are now best friends of Hasina Government.
The Government is not allowing international lawyers to visit Bangladesh to provide legal help to the accused. They call it International Crimes Tribunal but are not following any international standards in this trail?
Why 195 Pakistani officers identified as war criminal after the war were not put on trial if the Awwami League really wanted to try the war criminals, is it not true that no one was put on trial under the 1973 act because the 195 war criminals were released by India when they made a deal with Pakistan?
Because the Awami League Government is not seeking UN help to bring the Pakistani Soldiers those who are still alive to justice, and only arrested the current opposition leaders and Government ministers are regularly setting the date for the judgement and openly commenting what kind of sentences should be passed by the Judges, therefore the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is politically motivated and it must not continue.
Thank you Lord Avebury for highlighting the internal issues which are destroying Bangladesh. We must open our eyes and see the injustice taking place everywhere in the world. Unfortunately the current government in Bangladesh have a separate agenda which is clear from the skype conversations. I support that this trial needs to be fair and looked at from the beginning again. It is not good enough from the clear evidence of bias that suddenly a judge who has not been present throughout to come and be permitted to give a verdict. A trial like this, where lives are at stake must maintain the regulations of international laws and procedures. The pressure needs to be increased on the government of Bangladesh from the UN and Bangladesh needs to listen. It is not good enough just to call it ‘the country’s own history’ and leave them to it. Passivity is what leads to injustice, and injustice leads to destruction of values and disrespect to human values for years to come. If, in a situation such as this we allow Bangladesh to dictate politics to how they want it to be…we become as bad as the prosecutors themselves. The Bangladeshi government know themselves they are in the wrong hence why they have banned YouTube there where all the evidence has been recorded of the judges and at the same time any journalist who publishes the truth suddenly goes ‘missing’. Any lay man can see who is doing what here…
We strongly demand the involvement of some international judicial body such ICC of the Hague to prevent a travesty of Justice in Bangladesh. The whole process of International War Crime Tribunal in Bangladesh is based on biased and politically motivated score settling. The tribunal does not have anything close to, anything similar to any international standard but by the name only. There have been several ministers of the present govt that are publicly stating their demand and desire that the accused be hanged even though the process of the tribunal has not been through the whole process.
The malpractice that the Chairman of Tribunal One resorted to is unparalleled in the entire judicial history of the world. From the very inception, the tribunal did not follow appropriate legal procedure. The Tribunal’s affairs, such as the charge against the accused, various orders of the Tribunal and even the (pre-matured) verdict were all controlled by a Dr Ziauddin from Brussels, an individual who did not have affiliation with the Tribunal. The notion that Mr Nizamul Haque Nasim was simply taking the advice of an expert specializing in international law who happens to be abroad is absolutely false, nothing but a fallacy. In fact, the so called legal expert Dr Ziauddin was advising both the prosecutors and the judges. The Skype conversations that went for hours and days show that the judge/chairman, the prosecutors and the expert (is he?) Dr Ziauddin were having teleconferencing to form a strategy on how to manipulate, slow down or fast forward a particular case against a particular defendant. In fact they were ganging up to mock the justice system.
Therefore I support the demand that is raised both at home and abroad that the trial must restart from the beginning possibly with the help of ICC. If the Bangladeshi govt succeeds in their ill-intention of political score settling by using the tribunal, then it will create a deep wound in the mind of a good section of people in Bangladesh. The confusion of a section of the nation as to who to support in 1971 created a wound which has been kept alive and raw by those political parties who want to benefit from the chaos. We Bangladeshis do not need to create another wound in our nations history that may need another 40 years to heal. As a nation we need to move forward.
as we suspected that, the so called war crime kangaroo tribunal is bias, unfair and unjust tribunal set up to supressed political opponent . It is now very clear that this is the case. this trial must be stopped for the sake of justice, justice should never be colourblind. It is an absolute value. Having politcal views and commiting crime is two different things, crimes never was commited by these accused leaders. Some stupid people draw parallel between Nazi and jamaat leaders but they forget that nazi were the perpertrators of the crimes against humanity and these accused were having political views. Instead of talking about retrial these terrorist governments of Bangladesh should resign. God has honoured human race, the most valuable gift he has given to human is his conciense and intellect, may God bless all those who are involved and doing something to stop this unjust trial.
The judge was in Bangladesh and the man he spoke with on skype was in Brussels. How is it even right for him to discuss matters of the court, law and numerous peoples lives with a man that has such an obvious bias against the men being accused of war crimes…crimes they have yet to be proven guilty of (I doubt very much that this will ethically and legally happen), and is it not the norm and accepted notion of all human rights that one remains innocent until proven guilty?
So thank you very much Lord Avebury for writing this article to shed light on to some of the discrepancies and obvious illegal dealings that are in the course of determining the lives of a number of people.
Thanks Mr Eric Avebury for bringing the matter into our notice and i strongly agree with you. Thanks very much
Mr Eric Avebury thanks for bringing the matter into our notice and i strongly agree with you. Thanks very much
Thanks Mr Eric Avebury
I believe that Bangladesh ICT is politically motivated because of following reasons:
No government including the Awami League attempted to arrest any of these 10 leaders in last 40 years, they were not hiding rather they were sitting next to Hasina in the Bangladesh Parliament elected by the public. Why they suddenly realised that these people whothey were doing politics with for last 40 years are the war criminals? They never put it in the election manifestos to try these opposition leaders prior to 2008 elections.
Jamaat is not the only party who opposed and fought against the independence of Bangladesh, other Islamic parties and the pro-China communist parties were in favour of united Pakistan and were siding with occupying forces. Ironically, some of these communist leaders are now best friends of Hasina Government.
The Government is not allowing international lawyers to visit Bangladesh to provide legal help to the accused. They call it International Crimes Tribunal but it is not following any international standards.
Why 195 Pakistani officers identified as war criminal after the war were not put on trial if the Awami League really wanted to try the war criminals, is it not true that no one was put on trial under the 1973 act because the 195 war criminals were released by India when they made a deal with Pakistan?
Because the Awami League Government is not seeking UN help to bring the Pakistani Soldiers those who are still alive to justice, and only arrested the current opposition leaders and Government ministers are setting the date for the judgement and openly commenting what kind of sentences should be passed by the Judges, therefore the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is politically motivated and it must not continue.
Thank you very much Mr Eric for your article, very much in support of it.
Thank you very much for your excellent article. There are less people in this world who speak the truth. But you are a great person and you have said the right thing. The media is less truthful because they do not know what they are talking about.
Hi Richard, it might be worth looking at this site with links re. to those mentioned below
http://ictbdwatch.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/amnesty-internationals-letter-to-bangladesh-prime-minister-on-war-crimes-trial-june-2011/
https://www.barhumanrights.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/news/bhrc_statement_on_the_international_criminal_tribunal_in_bangladesh_ict.pdf
http://bdinn.com/articles/tribunal-exposed-risks-a-miscarriage-of-justice/
The critics include US War Crimes Ambassador Rapp, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Center for Transitional Justice, No Peace Without Justice, UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, Members of the UK House of Lords, UK Government, Members of the EU Parliament, Members of US Congress, US Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Committee, UK Bar Human Rights Committee, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, International Bar Association, Turkish Government and a whole host of international media. Surely they can’t all be part of the conspiracy.
There should be an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. The case for a retrial should be considered by the International Bar Association, and the government of Bangladesh should listen to their advice. And the UN Working Group on Disappearances should ask the government of Bangladesh for an invitation to visit the country and make inquiries about the disappearance of Ranjan Bali.
What happening there in Bangladesh in the name of Crime Tribunal is beyond description, I found a site http://www.tribunalleaks.be where Mr Ziauddin’s e-mail screen shoots were available. I could see how he (mr ziauddin) is been drafting every court rolling as well as preparing the judgment well before the witness even been placed in the court. He not only done so, but discuss every matter on skype and prepare a plan how he (Nizamul haque Nasim – the chair) should do next day and attached every drafts he would need. It was also cleared from the conversation that they both were influenced by the law minister and the chairman been doing all these to confirm his promotion as well as his previous commitment with GHADANIK.
Govt ministers also stating in public that all these 14 people will get capital punishment and that will be completed by 2013 – how do they know it if govt is not interfering?
We UK people would like to see a fair trial has taken place and it is not used for punishing opposition only.
I thank Eric Avebury for taking this issue on board.
I think it’s an obligation for the international community to intervene, as Bangladesh have broken a number of international laws and treaties which they are party. This includes the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights especially article 9. Note that Bangladesh is a signatory of this treaty. Other violations include breaching the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, again article 9 in particular.
I really appreciate the way Lord Eric has pointed out the weak points of the war crime tribunal of Bangladesh. The tribunal seems highly politicized. As a Bangladeshi citizen I am concerned about those innocent people who have been accused for war crime. Many of them were too young to do such things in 1971 but still they have been arrested. Recently police arrested 20 meritorious female students from a flat and didn’t allow them bail and they were taken into 2 days remand without any accusation. The female students are still in jail, they are ruining these student’s life for no reason. We do want International world and UN to help our people in this situation as we can see that this government is trying to use the war crime issue to oppress the opposition parties which will reassure their win in the next public election.
The most important thing is we want UN and all other international organisation to come forward in this regard to establish justice in Bangladesh. We want justice and it seems quite impossible if the current procedure keeps going in Bangladesh in war crime tribunal.
Thanks Mr Avebury for your feature. Actually present Bangladeshi government wants to violation our justice. Worlds should help them who are getting injustice.
Thank your for the write-up. I agree with you and appreciate current Bangladesh government’s willingness to try the war criminals of 1971 war, although it was resolved by the government immediately after the liberation war. However excluding the initially proven 195 war criminals from Pakistan army has made the move seriously questionable and raised the concern that it is designed to intimidate the opposition. Those who have been arrested for these trial are all from opposition party (BNP and BJI), and none from Awami League, despite the allegation that those who committed crimes against humanity during 1971 also do exist in the ruling party. The trial lacks any credibility due to many weaknesses that includes the lengthy pre-charge detention of suspects, interrogation without counsel present, inability to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal, lack of presumption of innocence, potential for self-incrimination, lack of protections for witnesses and victims etc. Despite the 17 recommendations made by the International Bar Association to make the tribunal compatible with international standard, almost nothing has been changed. Similarly, the government had ignored the recommendations made by the United Nations, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, Human Rights Watch and US Ambassador at Large Stephen Rapp. The judges, the investigators and the prosecutors have been drawn from the background with ruling party, making it unacceptable to anyone except the ruling party. Recently we have seen that the international lawyers for the accused have been barred to enter Bangladesh and defend the accused. Therefore, it is no wonder that the experts in field has called the ICT a politically motivated podium of unfair trial.
Immediately after the 1971 Bangladesh war, the issue of war crimes was raised by the then government. International Crimes Tribunal Act (ICTA), 1973 act was passed. After investigation 195 Pakistani military personnel was indicted out of 93000 soldiers surrendered after the war. They were pardoned by an agreement among India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 1972 collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order (Collaborators Order) was promulgated. Around 100000 people were arrested and investigated under this law. Fact Finding Committee was formed in each sub-district level to carry out proper investigation. 73 tribunals were formed and 2848 cases were settled by those tribunals. Only 752 people were convicted and 2096 people were not found guilty. Even a collaborator Chikon Ali was given death penalty on 11 June 1972. After that a general amnesty was declared and the act was repealed later. By all these it is becoming quite clear that war crimes issue has been resolved just after the 1971 war. Even then, any aggrieved party can file criminal case against anyone for the crimes during 1971 which can be settled by regular criminal law and in a regular court. But current Awami League government has formed a special tribunal to try alleged war criminals under International Crimes Tribunal Act, 1973 (amended in 2009). It is important to note this act was promulgated to try Pakistani Soldiers not any Bangladeshi citizens. But in section 3(1) of the amended act, the government has included the phrase “individual or group of individuals” so as to allow trial of civilians under this act. But this law denies fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution for all the citizens. And first constitutional amendment was done to deny this right.
Govt. arrested some top leaders from the two opposition political parties and kept them behind the bar for more than one year without framing any charge against them violating Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”).
According to the news paper reports investigation procedure was not transparent and politically motivated. When investigation officers went anywhere they were surrounded by ruling party musclemen barring common people to reach to the investigation officers. Opposition party leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said this trial is a trick to divide the nation. That means the government’s political approach to a sensitive issue like war crimes trial failed them to create a national consensus.
Even the tribunal proceedings seemed to be biased. The tribunal passed an order which allowed 15 unsigned statements to be admitted as evidence without the relevant witnesses being brought to court.
At least 3 of them gave Television interviews denying giving any statement to the Investigation Officer. One witness turned as a defense witness and testified for the accused. He said that he didn’t give statement to investigation officer. This implies a serious deception by prosecution.
Very recently the tribunal chairman has resigned as his conversation in skype with a person closely related to prosecution was leaked in a national newspaper. London based reputed magazine Economist said they have the content which if true would pose serious question about the tribunal.
Considering all these and specially after the Skypeleaks, now it is highly necessary to dismiss the tribunals and the trial may be started under the supervision of UN with international judges and act that is of international standard.
Dear Mr Eric Lubbock
Thanks a lot for your intitiatives to uphold justice in prosecuting the crimes against humanity comitted during the liberation war in Bangladesh. This trial was commenced not to find out and prosecuting the real criminals but to vanish the political rivals and power factor Jamaat E Islami from political vindeta. There is no due process here, the accused can’t expect any fair trial and justice from this ICT. The international community and dignatories like you should create pressure on Bangladesh government to stop this politically motivated trial.
I do thank Mr Eric to bring the issue to the attention of international world. We want the criminals in 1971 to be punished but that has to be in free and fair way . But the reason it is being questioned now is because the trial is pretty influenced and political. There are even criminals amongst the ruling party.
However we don’t want any mess, not the trial itself be a cause of a problem again.
We must respect others opinion as well to develop our patience that the nation needs badly.
many ,many hanks Mr Avebury. may almighty God BLESS YOU
We need crucially some honest people like Eric Aveburry regardless where they are from to publish the truth in order to establish justice in the world. Thanks Eric
Thank you very much for Mr Eric to write about the very big important issue in Bangladesh. As an Bangladeshi i am shamed for what is happening in our judiciary. we support war crime tribunal but it should be fair and justifiable not to target a party. We all are with justice and fight for justice. At the same time i would like to give Big Thank you to Economist for it’s great job. May God bless you to write for justice.
Thank you for speaking out against the blatant injustice being carried out by the Bangladeshi government in the name of War Crimes Tribunal. It has now become crystal clear to the whole world that these trials are all set up and highly politicaly motivated.
We need more of us to come forward to help uphold the rule of law and a free and independent judiciary which is the bedrock of a civilised and democratic society.
I am much obliged to the writer and all others involved in publishing the article.
Let the justice prevail in Bangladesh.
Many thanks
Thank you very much for your concern about this matter . Need a immediate action from the international community to bangladesh govonment before more damaging .
Thanks for your true voice
Thank you Mr. Avebury to bring this crucial issue to the world. I think it will be a shame for us as a global citizen if we can’t prevent this kind of miscarrage of Justice in this 21st Century, I think Bangladesh Government has forget the we are living in this edge of te modern world, even though she put every thing under conspiracy but I am sure World leader ship will stand for the justice to prevent this kind of uncivilized justice system.
The Government of Bangladesh has completely failed to demonstrate fair and neutrality with the war crime issue. It is urgent to raise a strong voice for all international Human right organisation for fair trail under UN supervision.
Thanks to Mr Eric Avebury.
Thank your for the write-up. I agree with you and appreciate current Bangladesh government’s willingness to try the war criminals of 1971 war, although it was resolved by the government immediately after the liberation war. However excluding the initially proven 195 war criminals from Pakistan army has made the move seriously questionable and raised the concern that it is designed to intimidate the opposition. Those who have been arrested for these trial are all from opposition party (BNP and BJI), and none from Awami League, despite the allegation that those who committed crimes against humanity during 1971 also do exist in the ruling party. The trial lacks any credibility due to many weaknesses that includes the lengthy pre-charge detention of suspects, interrogation without counsel present, inability to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal, lack of presumption of innocence, potential for self-incrimination, lack of protections for witnesses and victims etc. Despite the 17 recommendations made by the International Bar Association to make the tribunal compatible with international standard, almost nothing has been changed. Similarly, the government had ignored the recommendations made by the United Nations, the International Centre for Transitional Justice, Human Rights Watch and US Ambassador at Large Stephen Rapp. The judges, the investigators and the prosecutors have been drawn from the background with ruling party, making it unacceptable to anyone except the ruling party. Recently we have seen that the international lawyers for the accused have been barred to enter Bangladesh and defend the accused. Therefore, it is no wonder that the experts in field has called the ICT a politically motivated podium of unfair trial.
Many many thanks Mr Avebury for your valuable truth.
Thank you mr E.Avebury for your truth honest speking.
All war crimes should be tried and the true criminals should be brought to justice. It is also immensely important to ensure the legal process is fair and at the end justice prevails.
In regards to Bangladesh’s recently Skype revelation and other previous incidents such as disappearance of Ranjan Bali are causes for serious concerns. It begs the key question, whether the current government has intention for fairness or these are ways of intimidating and harassing the oppositions.
To ensure the trial is fair, neutral and without all influence of any political parties, this should be under UN supervision.
Mr Avebury thanks for the article. To those who are opposing the outsiders intervention as a Bangladeshi I would not like that as well. But Bangladesh as a country have signed many treaties and charter about upholding human rights, freedom and justice to its citizen and when this conditions are violated than international community can not avoid the responsibility. Mr Avebury et al did not interfere with the trial until it came to a point where it was evident that justice going to be denied. Again those who are opposing the outsider’s intervention pls read or do some research about the motive of the gov of Bangladesh and its allies than comment.
Thanks again Mr Avebury for standing for the truth.
There is not much purpose in repeating Mr Lubbock’s remarks. Repetition does not produce clarity or progress.
If someone wants the UN Special Rapporteur to explore this matter, they should contact the Rapporteur’s office, see the website http://www.ohchr.org/EN/issues/Judiciary/Pages/IDPIndex.aspx.
A lot of thanks Mr Avebury May God bless U..
I honestly respect Mr. Eric’s stand for the Justice and Fairness. Most of the Bangladeshis are deeply concerned about the Skype Conversation. Clearly , not only the judge broke the code of conduct, but also there has been collusion between the law minister, state minister, chief prosecutor, Supreme court judge, and Ahmed Ziauddin bringing the tribunal in disrepute and going against natural Justice. We believe UN must interfere and Investigate the issue. And without re-trial this tribunal would be unacceptable to the general people of Bangladesh.
First of all, I have to give a big thank you Mr Eric Avebury because as a Bangladeshi, I have more right to wright an article about my concerns of this matter, but you have covered my concerns on your article. Well done and thank you again.
Thanks a lot for your honest opinion in the article Mr Eric Avebury.
Thank you very much for your nice article. This is a political tribunal, we need fair and justice from international community about the tribunal. Please investigate everything from united nation.
thanks you for your time and making a report about the tribunal.we only want justice .they should start again the trail with those justice who can provide a good decision with their own knowledge .
Dean. I do ………………..
I honestly respect Mr. Eric’s stand for the Justice and Fairness. Most of the Bangladeshis are deeply concerned about the Skype Conversation. Clearly , not only the judge broke the code of conduct, but also there has been collusion between the law minister, state minister, chief prosecutor, Supreme court judge, and Ahmed Ziauddin bringing the tribunal in disrepute and going against natural Justice. We believe UN must interfere and Investigate the issue. And without re-trial this tribunal would be unacceptable to the general people of Bangladesh. People of Bangladesh want a faier judgment .
Evidently the trial is a politically motivated trial. Many active political figures are accused of committing war crimes, still those are not being charged under the tribunal. If Govt has good intentions to fair trial why dont they arrest their own party members, against whom there are evidences. Moreover if we consider the skype conversation we see one judge has been forced to resign by Law minister. govt is putting pressure on judges and some ministers are announcing fixed time about hanging those who are under the trial now. How even before the completion of the trial ministers can say they will be hanged ?
Is it still not clear that its a biased and unfair trial ??
we want ICC intervention to this tribunal for justice ..
Thank you very much Mr Avebury for your article. This biased tribunal shoud be stopped without any further delay. We want a fair trial with the help help of UN and international judges.
Thank you very much for your excellent article that will be more helpful for injustice and innocent people .
Thank you very much Sir.It’s not that we don’t want continue this justice but have to be free & fair trial.After this sky pe scandal there is no point to continue this trial where was end under mr Hoq.
We hope govt’ll be presurised by those people who are expert with this.Thanx again.God bless you
Thanks for your support. Now we know this trail is not a trail, so we must support to stop this injustice . Otherwise we will be liable to answer to our own.
Thank you very much for your writing. This tribunal is totally politically motivated and establised to eliminate opposition political leaders. Tribunal has so much power that no one can challange any of its decision, only you can ask them to review. It’s like asking criminal to give a judgement of his crime. After recent leaks of Skype scandal it’s become clear that judges, prosecutions and government all planned together to judicially kills all Jamaat leaders. Judge and prosecution kidnapped a witness! This tribunal should be scraped all together and start afresh where fair trials could be held.
Bangladesh govt is arresting and torturing the opposition party activists without any proper allegation. even a pregnant lady is being tortured without any allegation. Govt started this type of torture more now after the skype leak. This govt is violating human rights and we want UN intervention immediately.
i agree with mr advery
Dear Richard dean, can you please answer after all of these how a person still support this trail. It is only possible when there is some give and take situation.
I am very glad that the God has created some people who dedicates their life for justice and I strongly believe that Eric Avebury is one of them. I appreciate what he has written about truth of the so called “International War Crime Tribunal” in Bangladesh. I appeal all of the peace loving human being in the world to support anyone who loves justice and fight for justice. Again many thanks to Eric Aveburg.
very beutifull coment mr advery
thanks you ver much dear sir advery
I am fully in agreement.
Thank you very much Mr Avebury for your article. This biased tribunal shoud be stopped without any further delay. We want a fair trial with the help help of international judges.
I agree with the comments made about a retrial , proper investigation should be made. The Bangladesh government should work hand in hand with these investigation as justice needs to be made. Allah knows best and inshallah those guilty would be punished. Thank you for the issues raised and for raising awareness Mr Avebury.
Thank you very much Mr Avebury for your article. This biased tribunal shoud be stopped without any further delay. We want a fair trial with the help help of international judges.
Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere .
I would like to thank you Mr Eric Avebury
for your honest opinion in the article.
Thank a lot for focusing this high profile issue , which is humiliating the justice system of Bangladesh. Where there is no chance to say anything in the court on behalf of the defendant , where there is no chance to produce witness on behalf of them, where the government is abducting the oppositions witness and finally, where according to the Skype conversation the government is pushing the tribunal to declared the judgement any how as soon as possible , after all of this how come a nation can expect to them a free, fair and impartial justice that we all desire . That is not a trial that is merely to humiliate a countries justice system . Thank again Mr. Avebury
I agree.
Thanks Mr Avebury. We want war criminal free Bangladesh but what is go on . lot of war criminal still alive in Bangladesh but this government only making justice some selected opposite parties leaders. is this a fair justice. we want fair justices.
Thank
Thannk you very much avebury for this letter. I think this tribunal should be stop by the un, and this two people mr nizamul hoq nasim,and dr ahmed ziauddin should pe punished for this conspierency. The were arranging murdering innocent people like maolana delwar hussain saydee. Maolana saydee is a popular leader of bangldesh that why hasina want to kill him with fals allegation.
You are doing a good job to save the political victims. Their only fault is they are the opposition party leaders. The government wants to stay in power for longer. they made their own. Keep it up.
Thanks Mr lord Avebury for your significant comment about ICT, I hope your statement this illegal nasty tribunal will stop there any further progress .
Tank you mr Eric for your article . This tribunal should be stope without any further delay, we bangladeshi people want a fair trail with the help of UN and base on international law .
Thank you very much Mr Avebury for your article. This biased tribunal shoud be stopped without any further delay. We want a fair trial with the help of UN and international judges.
Thanks Mr Eric,
Definitely we want trial of those who are the real criminal, but this so called war crime tribunal is only a Kangaro Court. And the Awami League are trying to give capital punishment to their political opponents in any way through this mockery of justice in Bangladesh.
I am in the strong opinion that any trial should be under ICC with the presence of international lawyers and jurists and under the direct supervision of UN.
I would like to request you pls could you make a trip to Bangladesh to see what a mockery is going there in the name of justice.
Present government ministers are declaring the date of judgement, date of execution, even the constant of judgement and definitely in their word it is capital punishment.
Simply it is unacceptable not in the international standard , simply there is no standard at all.
Judgement had written by someone other than the judge even before the argument had started.
I don’t understand how this trial could still continue.
This drama should stop right now.
Thanks to Lord Avebury for standing up against injustice.
Mr. Richard Dean. I do agree with your opinion that Bangladesh have to work hard to ensure a Independent justice System. For your kind Information, from my personal Experience , this Government would not care what people say. Rather, the only justice can be Ensure is by Violence. Recent protest in Bangladesh shows this is the ultimate result if there is no UN intervention and Trial under their supervision. I have pointed out three Advantages if there is trial under UN:
1) We could Try the real war criminals (195 was identified in 1971, they were released and forgiven by Bangladesh President at that time) who were Pakistani Army Member.
2) Both parties would be satisfied that there was Justice. Defense and prosecution would not be able to raise the issue that Trial was Biased or there was injustice. Along, with that general people of Bangladesh would be satisfied that there was Fairness and justice.
3) Government already spend Millions of Pounds for the Tribunal to continue.. They Spend millions on International Lobbying, Raising people’s Awareness, and for media. Bangladesh is a small country, it is useless to spend so much money, Government have others things to do and try to fulfill the need of General people.
So many Comments Clearly Proves how much people is concerned about this trial. They want the Trial to continue, But it has to be Just and fair. This government is never gonna do that to make sure there is fairness. And this our Concern. They will persecute in any means unless the International bodies come forward and force the government .
Finally, I would Thank you for giving us that information to contact the UN. Hope you will also help Bangladeshis to let them know that general people are deeply concerned about the Drama in the name of war crimes tribunal.
Thank you very much sir. I appreciate it
Truth shall prevail.
thanks
LORD AVEBURY,for revealing the excellent real statement in relation to the present situation the war traial tribunal in Bangladesh.its a shame for the nation,but the Awami league blind party dont understand the consequence of the political tribunal,
now i request the awami govt to stop the political tribunal.
Thank you mr Eric avebury. appreciate your work.
After the Skype scandal, this tribunal has lost its all crdibility. I personaly believe like other Bangladeshi that this tribunal is biased, political.Anybody those who read the skype scandal will be think the same. therefore, Now there are three way to resove the problem. (1) Government should admite their corruption in this whole process and desolve the court and release the accused. or (2) Re trial, start from very begining with neutral Judges including International panel. or (3) Leave the whole process to the International Criminal Court of Hauge.
Any other process will make the who tribunal more controvarcial, more mess and people of Bangladesh will not accept political motivated judgment.
Well done mr Eric Avebury.
Thankyou Mr Eric Avebury for your concern about innocent people of bangladesh.
This is definitely a laudable piece of work! The two focal points are: 1. the audacity of this hoaxed trial speculating to continue from the left over of the previous justice Nizamul Haque, 2. abducting of Shukh Ranjan Bali, a defense witness, from the courtyard.
The background of the trial of the war criminals undoubtedly squishes up some sneaky smells of conspiracy against some of the brightest sons of Bangladesh, who have been familiar in the Bangladesh political and social arena for decades and had an opportunity to be the part of the parliament and the cabinet twice. Nonetheless a single individual was able to point to an iota of corruption against them while running their ministries.
Unfortunately they have been picked in order to clear the garbage of war crimes or crimes for humanity when the issue was already settled by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first prime minister of Bangladesh after its liberation in 1971.
Mujib’s parliament constituted a 1972-73 Collaborators’ Act which brought 195 shortlisted Pakistani army officers to light in order to try them under the scope of the Act. But these main war criminals were made scot free upon a tripartite agreement between Bangladesh, India and Pakistan resulting a general amnesty declared by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. There was still loopholes in four areas to try the domestic collaborators, i.e. killing, raping, setting fire and looting. And over 37,000 people were experiencing trials followed by mass arrests by the then Mujib government.
Yet, these leaders excluding Sayedi (because he joined Jamate Islami, I presume, in the early ‘80s) of Bangladesh Jamat-e-Islami did not have a single general diary filed in any police station of any area of Bangladesh. Furthermore, in 1991 Awami League(AL) indeed fought tooth and nail to attain the support from Jamaat to form govt though their hope turned void because Jamaat lent their hands to BNP to be able to form government.
This was what added fuel to the fire of vengeance of AL that they want to take at this very moment through this so-called ‘clown court’ of internal crime tribunals.
Eventually as every step of Mr Huq in formulating the structure, even how to deal with the witnesses, have bee fixed through the dication of Mr Ziauddin Ahmed in Belgium, this point is crucially highlighted:
“The new chairman of the Tribunal, Fazle Kabir, brought in to replace Huq, will be preparing his judgement without having heard any of the arguments. Is the judgement to be based on Ziauddin’s draft prepared in mid-October, before the defence even began their closing arguments?”
I reiterate my heartily compliments to Mr Avebury for this timely job upholding the truth and justice.
Thank you Mr. Eric Avebury for your voice against a political court in Bangladesh.We want justice and fair trial.It’s not a international tribunal,it’s totally a political tribunal.It’s should be stoped for a justice.
The issue raised is a very Important issue and one that requires thought with accurate action. The fact that a system that has such representation that allows injustice even before the trial has commenced is one that demonstrates flaws. Therefore, the solution would be a judicial system that favours nor the government of Bangladesh nor one that allows injustice to prevail in society. I completely agree that those who have committed war crimes should be held to account but also those who where the benefactress of these wars . The solution as I mentioned before is a trial held under a ,free and just judicial system, not one that corrupts nor allows corruption .
Thanks Mr Eric, we are very concerned about what is happening in Bangladesh and it has proved that this trial is totally politically motivated. This happens to be one of the biggest discrepancy in 21st century.
Thanks for such an important writing. As a British citizen we believe in democracy, fairness and we are against any injustice anywhere in the world. So we can not keep silent as present government is committing another crime by the so called International Crime Tribunal where as it is a tool for them to destroy oppositions especially Bangladesh Jamaate Islami.
However, we want international community to involve to put pressure on Bangladesh government so that trial meets the international standard.
First of all I thank to Mr Avebury for his concern about Bangladesh war crimes Tribunal
I would like to make few points from Skype discussion between Mr Nizamul Haque Nasim and Mr Uddin in Belgium:
1. Mr Nizamul Haque Nasim said in interview with Economist he never share anything about tribunal with anyone even not with his wife :
From Skype scandal we have seen he had 17 hours discussion and exchanged 320 emails with Mr Zia Uddin. All of them about how to frame the charge, how much witness will be permitted for defence and what order have to make, when to deliver judgment, whom case should be tried first and many more and all are relevant with tribunal’s day to day activities.
Therefore, Mr Nasim lied to the Economist in first point and he breached the oath and code of conduct for the Judges in Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
2. It also exposed that the prosecution and the chair of the tribunal 1 had relationship outside of the court and they discussed how to prepare witnesses to give their version of witness. For example one of the Witness Sultana Kamal, she has been taught everything by the prosecution to give witness against Professor Golam Azam, it came out from Skype Discussion. Further also out from Skype that Chair Nizamul Haque, Zia Uddin and Prosecution decided not to Bring Mr Shafi Ullah (Former Army Chief) as a witness because, they doubted he will not listen them on their way and they cannot convince him to read out their prepared script .
3. It also revealed one of the Judges from Tribunal 1 resigned because of Law Minister Mr Shafiq Ahmed undue pressure on him to resign from tribunal. Judge Mr Zahir Uddin offered to be making chair of the law commission.
4. It also uncovered from Skype discussion that Allama Sayeedi’s verdict already prepared in October. However, we know by that time defence witness even not finished giving their witness; therefore it shows that in the name of trial they are playing with some people lives.
5. Mr Nasim told to Mr Zia-uddin that Govt minister become absolute crazy for Judgment. Under any circumstances they want a verdict before 16 December to celebrate Victory day.
6. I came across in one point Mr Zia Uddin telling to Mr Nasim chair of the Tribunal 1 that he has sent the draft charge against Professor Golam Azam and Mr Nasim exactly approved the same one by changing date only. As a law student so far I know, Prosecution supposed to prepare the charge by themselves and no third party can involve to prepare it.
There are lots of issue came out how the Awmi govt, prosecution, Mr Uddin and chair of the Tribunal conducting the case day to day.
Any reasonable person will be shaking by hearing that conversation how a judge sit in the tribunal with ill thought and pervert motive.
We want fair trial, if the accused are committed the crime and it proved beyond reasonable doubt, they should be punished with exemplary punishment. To ensure fair trial there is no alternative but retrial the all cases.
Thanks to Mr Avebury to bring the matter on the public eye. i support the rule of law but it seems our government playing a political game to stop activities of opposition parties by oppressing their leaders. Please be sensible. And do not kill innocent people of Bangladesh. God love justice. God does not like corruption on earth.
THANKs.mr ERIC ,WE ARE REAIIY APPRECIATE THIS .GOD HELP US,,
This tribunal is not Neutral. it is politically motivated. this is now a open secrat which is discloed by skype scandal. through the resignation of justice (?) Nizamul haq, it has been admitted that this tribunal is not neutral but it was playing a dengerous game. we believe an imedeate investigation should be made by UN as Avebury said. otherwise a ‘ dengerous crime agaist humanity’ will be made in the name of justice of. I urge UN to come forward.
First of all I thank to Mr Avebury for his concern about Bangladesh war crimes Tribunal
I would like to make few points from Skype discussion between Mr Nizamul Haque Nasim and Mr Uddin in Belgium:
Mr Nizamul Haque Nasim said in interview with Economist he never share anything about tribunal with anyone even not with his wife :
From Skype scandal we have seen he had 17 hours discussion and exchanged 320 emails with Mr Zia Uddin. All of them about how to frame the charge, how much witness will be permitted for defence and what order have to make, when to deliver judgment, whom case should be tried first and many more and all are relevant with tribunal’s day to day activities.
Therefore, Mr Nasim lied to the Economist in first point and he breached the oath and code of conduct for the Judges in Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
Well done. What an excellent article. Straight to the point. Mr dean, no one is telling uk to go and ARM the opposition party like they are doing in Libya and Syria etc where they shouldn’t get involved as those are independent govs and there are sectarian issues. Here the un and human rights are being asked to interfere, as its their job to insure justice around the world. In fact it would still be right for uk to get involved because Bangladesh gov has good relation with uk and its meant to be democracy so they should correct the Bangladesh gov. Democracy is even respecting the minority. Doesn’t mean the elected party can go round doing injustice Or any thing they want. If they have the right to do injustice just because they are elected then why are not hamas given the same right? I agree with your point that teaching fishing is more useful. In fact correcting the gov is teaching them! Since uk and usa are the democracy teachers of Bangladesh they should correct their student.
We don’t want this kind of false and fake court more. This is totally illegal and injustice for innocent political persons.
This Evil court must be stop as soon as possible .
There are something like 160 million people in Bangladesh. About 1/3 live below the poverty line, Just over half can read and write. This is a country that is very very different compared to the UK, and it’s unlikely that many UK people would be able to understand more than just a little of the life there. Its problems and solutions are almost incomprehensible. I wonder how many people living in Bangladesh have access to the internet. (eg.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html, or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh)
The Economist article is very informative. Here is an interesting quote from it: “Bangladesh suffered a violent birth. In the last days of 1971 the country … was engulfed by torture, rape, mass-killing and other acts of genocide. The main perpetrators were … troops … but the army had the support of many … fundamentalist groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami …. Estimates of the death toll vary from around 300,000 to the current government’s reckoning of 3m”. It is not exactly surprising that the country needs to address its past. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21568349-week-chairman-bangladeshs-international-crimes-tribunal-resigned-we-explain?zid=306&ah=1b164dbd43b0cb27ba0d4c3b12a5e227
It is now over 40 years since those events, and the person currently on trial is a leader of the present Jamaat party. It’s obviously important that most of the 160 million people living in Bangladesh should be satisfied that the trial comes to the correct judgment. If the outside world is to intervene in any way at all, I suggest that its primary motive should be to assist those 160 million people’s in achieving their desires for justice. Is there evidence that a large number of those people believe the court to be corrupted?
thank you Mr Avebury,& marry Xmas to you. A true voice can give hope to people how are hopeless. bless you.
At first thank u…
I want to say that it’s not an international tribunal.
There’s no dout it’s a political tribunal .nationaly & Internationaly it’s already controversial . So that should be stopped imedietly for a fear justice
Thanks a lot Mr. Lric Avebury.I highly honor
for raise your voice to making justice and fair trial in Bangladeshi war crime tribunal.
Because of they harassing innocent people by their political tribunal.
Kind regards,
MD YOUNUS
I want to stop bangladesh war crime tribunal. Because it is doing injustice.
I bileve that international community should intervene now be puss after the Skype conversation it is clear that they trying to kill innocent opposition leaders without justice this is unecceptable.
thank you sir, you have got the fact right . there is violation of human rights and only political trials of opponent . this is unjust mockery of I T C . this trial must stop, and make proper inquary by UNDER THE SUPERVISION BY UN BODY; THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR FINDING:
Thanks a lot Mr L. Avebury.
Thanks mr Eric Avebury , we know sometimes judge order partial verdict , but he do it his own words. it’s totally unthinkable , heinous that he did everything from third person. Shame on mr Nasim & others, All r requested plz raise ur voice to ensure free & fair trial. Thanks everyone .
This is totally illegal tribunal. It’s name international war crime tribunal actually it is a domestic awami tribunal just for destroying opposition political party in Bangladesh. pleas stop this tribunal.
As far as the emails are concerned, there seems to be a major problem, quite apart from the problems that they were obtained illegally and that they likely show only part of the picture.
The major problem is that they don’t seem to be compromising. The first few on the website seem to be normal, non-conspiratorial communications that aren’t damning at all.
http://www.tribunalleaks.be/bdictunveiled/index.php/documentation/emails
Is this a case of making smoke to convince people there is fire? Perhaps someone ought to have a look at the emails and explain to puzzled UK readers whether any of them actually indicate wrongdoing.
i strongly agree this support thannks mr ivory to raise your voice against this fake trial
Truth shall prevail.
thanks
LORD AVEBURY,for revealing the excellent real statement in relation to the present situation the war traial tribunal in Bangladesh.its a shame for the nation,but the Awami league blind party dont understand the consequence of the political tribunal,
now i request the awami govt to stop the political tribunal.
Thank you very much Mr. Eric Avebury for your true voice against a political court in Bangladesh.We want justice and fair trial.It’s not a international tribunal and fully unfair tribunal . it’s totally a political tribunal.It’s should be stoped for a justice.Only batter for Bangladesh peoples .
One who has respect for due process and love for Bangladeshi people, want a impartial judiciary to protect them from oppression, present & future, should raise voice. Humanity is one unit and should not be segregated by boundaries. Thanks.
the court stop need now.
Mr. Evebury,
Would you please visit Bangladesh?
Thanks a lot Mr. Eric Avebury. we really appreciated your stand on be half of justice .
‘False trick can not stand for long’
again thanks for your voice against injustice.
THE PROMINENT EX-JUDGE OF BANGLADESH SUPREME COURT MR. TH KHAN ,SAID IN A SEMINAR “NOTHING IS IN INTERNATIONAL SLANDERED OF SO CALLED TRIBUNAL OF BANGLADESH EXCEPT THE NAME- INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL-. WE HUMBLY ACCEPT HIS OPINION AND THINK THAT THIS TRIBUNAL IS ONLY MADE FOR POLITICAL REASON.
The resignation of Justice Nizamul Huq Nasim sparked a heated debate about whether the trial is required to be started afresh or it can be continued as if nothing has happened. State minister for law Qamrul Islam said on December 14, 2012 that the tribunal would resume trial from where the previous judge had left it. The law minister said, “There is no chance to start the trial afresh. The Scetion 6 of the ICT Act clearly states that judge can hear arguments afresh but it is not compulsory. The trial will start from where it stopped as transfer of judges is common incident”.
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Subsection 6(5) and 6(6) of the Act
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states the following:
6(5) If, in the course of a trial, any one of the members of a Tribunal is, for any reason, unable to attend any sitting thereof, the trial may continue before the other members.
6(6) A Tribunal shall not, merely by reason of any change in its membership or the absence of any member thereof from any sitting, be bound to recall and re-hear any witness who has already given any evidence and may act on the evidence already given or produced before it.
While it is true that it may appear from subsection 6(6) that in case of “any change in membership or absence of any member” it is not compulsory “to recall and re-hear any witness”. But if we look carefully we would find that the word “merely” is there before the phrase “by reason of any change…or absence…”. But the question is can Justice Nizamul Huq’s resignation following a Skype scandal be said as a “mere change or absence of membership”? Or can it be categorized as a “common incident” as law minister argued in his statement? To answer these questions we have to keep it in mind that the allegation is as serious as receiving written Tribunal orders through e-mail from a person who is not officially related to tribunal proceedings and is very closely related to the prosecution. [See Economist article]
None of the judges in the current tribunal-1 have heard all the evidence. Members of the first panel of the tribunal -1 formed in March 2010, were Justice Nizamul Huq, Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, and Justice Zahir Ahmed. ATM Fazle Kabir was moved to the second tribunal and he was replaced by Justice Anwarul Huq. Justice Zahir Ahmed resigned later and he was replaced by Justice Jahangir Hossain. Finally after resignation of Justice Nizamul Huq, ATM Fazle Kabir was brought back as chairman. Now three members of the tribunals are:
1. Justice Anwarul Huq: He heard only one prosecution witness, the investigating officer, before the defense presented its case.
2. Justice Jahangir Hossain: He heard only the defense witnesses.
3. the new chairman of the tribunal (brought back from Tribunal 2) ATM Fazle Kabir: He heard the prosecution witnesses only when he was previously i n the Tribunal 1
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And
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Thus it is so exceptional situation that experts opine that this particular situation is not covered the 1973 Act. David Bergman, a British journalist closely following the tribunals, writes: “…it is difficult to imagine that the Act could ever have envisioned a situation in which the tribunal is now in – where one of the judges has heard no evidence, another judge has not heard any of the prosecution evidence, and a third judge has heard a very small part of the prosecution evidence.”
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Human Rights Watch puts it more clearly: “It is common practice in Bangladesh for a trial to continue when a judge is replaced, falls ill, or is unable to continue for other reasons. The statute that governs the ICT contains a section which allows the replacement of a judge. However, the statute does not address cases in which none of the judges is present throughout the trial.”
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That means the Act talks about the “absence of any member…from any sitting”, but is silent about the absence of all members from many sittings.
Moreover provision for continuation of trial before other members in absence of any one member provided by the Subsection 6(5) of the Act is criticized by the International Bar Association (IBA). They stated: “This is contrary to international practice, which would provide that if any one of the members of the Tribunal was unable to attend a hearing, the trial would be adjourned. The concern is that if a trial continued without all Tribunal members present, it could affect the authority and trustworthiness of the process.” It appears from the IBA’s statement that international practice emphasized that proceedings should not continue in absence of even a single judge. Now in case of Saydee trial all of the judges were absent from at least some part of the hearing. In this situation would it be trustworthy to continue the proceedings?
It seems to be contrary to the national practice also. Barrister Rafiqul Huq, an eminent lawyer of Bangladesh , in a television talk show stated: “When we go to appellate division, [suppose] five judges are hearing; in the next day if one of the judges is absent for some reason, no hearing takes place. The court gets adjourned. The hearing starts once the judge comes back.”
David Bergman analyzing section 349A (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) concluded that “it may well be cited as national practice that can be applied here practice also”
Regarding judges inability to proceed Federal rule of Civil Procedure 63 states that “Any other judge may proceed” if the case can be “completed without prejudice to the parties”.
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After the Skype conversations is leaked the neutrality of the whole proceedings is seriously in doubt. So it is generally believed that continuation of such proceedings could not be done without prejudice to the parties. Even civil society members who are ardent supporters of war crimes trial like Dr. Asif Nazrul [wrote article in Bengali titled “Je bichar hotei hobe”(the trial that must be held) in daily Prothom alo], a professor of law at University of Dhaka and a prominent figure, doubted the neutrality of the proceedings. In a television talk show he said: “In this situation (i.e., after Skype conversation leak), how far the case was heard with an impartial mind, in which areas of the proceedings there was bias – these questions would remain.
Dr. Asif further said, “No original judges are there. If we consider it theoretically it is an unprecedented event. Both prosecution witness defense witness must be heard. Hearing from cassette player or from recorded version is not enough. Court atmosphere is very important. For this reason Judges are always needed to be present in the court ….”
Dr. Akbar Ali Khan, former secretary to Bangladesh Government and former advisor to the Caretaker government, said in a television talk show: “ the verdict cannot be given based on what is written in the paper. First thing is that there can be errors while writing and the person, who writes, doesn’t write everything. Secondly, Judges form an impression by hearing and seeing the witnesses and the verdict of criminal cases depend on this impression. So if new Judge comes, there should be a retrial according to general rule.”
Another important point is that even before Skype leak the tribunal was criticized because of due process failure. David Bergman wrote a series of articles regarding this issue in his blog (titled “Sayedee trial analysis:..”). It will be dealt in a separate post.
From the Skype leak another important aspect revealed was government influence and intervention to the trial process. The former chairman of Tribunal -1 was saying that government has become absolutely crazy….
Even minister met with judge…
The judge has resigned but the same people are there and seems they are continuing their influence in the trial. State minister for law Qamrul Islam He said that the new chair of the tribunal might hear the already-concluded argument anew for his satisfaction and in that case the tribunal might take three to seven more days to complete the process, which would resume on December 17.
Minister even mentioned the exact number of days needed to complete the trial. Can a minister say this?
On 17 December in response to a defence application for Privileged Communication with sayedee, the tribunal observed that all the proceedings of the case against Sayedee ended and the case was awaiting verdict. At this stage the tribunal did not find any reasons for privilege communications. In this regard renowned British war crimes expert Tobby Cadman, who is also a defence counsel, observed that: “Tribunal as per the State Minister for Law has concluded that the Tribunal provides greater protection than any other war crimes tribunal in the world. The newly appointed Tribunal Chairman also declared that there is no scope for a retrial even though a reasoned application has not yet been submitted.” It is really important to note that tribunal Chairman seems to be echoing the Minister’s idea even before any application was submitted as Tobby Cadman mentioned.
After the Skype leak, considering the current law, general practice, biased proceedings and government influence in the trial it can be said that Government’s attempt to continue would devastate the already murky trial’s credibility. But would the government care for the trial’s credibility? Lord Eric Avebury wrote in twitter: “Retrial is only fair solution, but is politically impossible because government wants sentences before 2013 election”. [https://twitter.com/EricAvebury/status/279658758429347840] By saying “Politically impossible” may be he means that political considerations are there in the trial. On 2010 the same thing is reflected in the observation of a US based research firm and a think tank, Heritage foundation. Their report stated that the trial “is widely seen as a political issue aimed primarily at discrediting the JI, rather than as a societal issue to be resolved in the interest of national reconciliation.” [http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/03/bangladesh-checking-islamist-extremism-in-a-pivotal-democracy]
If they are true in their observations then the very legitimate question arises whether a political trial can ever be fair or credible, especially in a country like Bangladesh .
Recently Skype revelation and other previous incidents such as disappearance of Ranjan Bali are causes for serious concerns. It begs the key question, whether the current government has intention for fairness or these are ways of intimidating and harassing the oppositions.
Bangladesh Govt ministers also stating in public that all these 14 people will get capital punishment and that will be completed by 2013 – how do they know it if govt is not interfering?
. This tribunal lost all of its creditability . We want fair trial not political trial . This tribunal should be abolished immediately . For fair trial move those cases to ICC . Very much concerned about those victim of this tribunal .
Thank you Mr Lord Avebury for your concern about the ICT in Bangladesh which is highly politicised. it is to award death sentence to opposition leaders as everyday the ministers are indicating to be in power forever. so it is time to stop the ICT and if necessary to try them in the Hague.
as a bangladeshi i cannot allow to be this heppening in my name in my country.
Thanks….Very Informative.Well done Lord Avebury. 🙂
Thank you to Lord Avebury.
People of Bangladesh want the real war criminals face justice. We don’t want to see the War Crimes Tribunal used for political reasons.
It may please some people to see innocent people hanged for political and ideological reasons. Shame on those people.
We want to see a fair trial. We don’t want to see innocent people hanged!
Richard Dean
Please read on carefully before giving a comment. At least I don’t expect such a lose opinion from You!!!
You read the E-mail. You couldn’t Find any Wrong? Strange!! Ok . Let me give you one Example:
* See the e-mail. Here, Ahmed Ziauddin, Written a draft of Judgment on charge: http://www.bdictunveiled.com/bdictunveiled/Archive/EmailsPICs/image146.png
* Now Click Here to Download the Draft Copy: http://bdictunveiled.com/bdictunveiled/Archive/Docs/1/GhulamAzamCharges_Final_Draft.doc
* Judge, on following , gave a judgement on only by putting date on the Draft!!! Is it Fairness???
* Now, see a very interesting thing. The Same person who wrote a draft order for charge, also assisting the Prosectution (Mr. Simon and Zia Al Malum) on what point they can bring Charge!!!. E-mail Link:
http://www.bdictunveiled.com/bdictunveiled/archive/EmailsPICs/200-298/image248.png
You Wanted To Know: Is there evidence that a large number of those people believe the court to be corrupted?
Let Me Show you Some Example:
*Demonstration in Turkey: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=425419310857564&set=t.1369760936&type=3&theater
* Demonstration in Japan: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=457840820941299&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492249&type=3&theater
* Demonstration In France: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=456032517788796&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492249&type=3&theater
*Demonstration In Germany: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=456031294455585&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492249&type=3&theater
* Demonstration in London: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=451008668291181&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492375&type=3&theater
* Demonstration in London, Parliamnet Square: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=442112079180840&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492455&type=3&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=442111952514186&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492455&type=3&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=442112032514178&set=pb.100001461568980.-2207520000.1356492455&type=3&theater
* Demonstration in Malaysia: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200313858793658&set=a.1539975943893.70595.1369760936&type=1&theater
* Demonstration in New York: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200210347125931&set=a.1539975943893.70595.1369760936&type=1&theater
*Demonstration in Spain : http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200224400477256&set=pb.1369760936.-2207520000.1356492745&type=3&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200224400517257&set=pb.1369760936.-2207520000.1356492745&type=3&theater
*Demonstration in south Africa: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=121968844633327&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493426&type=3&theater
Also there was demonstration in Portugal, Austria, Italy, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland
Now Let me show you Peoples Reaction in Bangladesh:
Photos:
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200319095124563&set=pb.1369760936.-2207520000.1356492745&type=3&theater
* In death Prayer of Delwar Hossain Saidee’s son: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=379524615440625&set=t.1369760936&type=3&theater
*http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=123877451109133&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493334&type=3&theater
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=123864467777098&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493375&type=3&theater
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=123864464443765&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493375&type=3&theater
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=120324684797743&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493520&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc7%2F481788_120324684797743_994931688_n.jpg&size=960%2C638
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=118928791603999&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493550&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F154663_118928791603999_1840602285_n.jpg&size=934%2C538
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=118588861637992&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493555&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc6%2F704520_118588861637992_759854704_o.jpg&smallsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash4%2F429561_118588861637992_759854704_n.jpg&size=1950%2C1220
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=116820458481499&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493655&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn1%2F15981_116820458481499_1008297649_n.jpg&size=403%2C403
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110845652412313&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493700&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc6%2F230193_110845652412313_1131124241_n.jpg&size=429%2C285
*http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110845652412313&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493700&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc6%2F230193_110845652412313_1131124241_n.jpg&size=429%2C285
*http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110819979081547&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493700&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F55636_110819979081547_150631998_o.jpg&smallsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-prn1%2F542577_110819979081547_150631998_n.jpg&size=2048%2C1760
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110845339079011&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493700&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-ash3%2F558948_110845339079011_56182692_n.jpg&size=429%2C285
* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110845652412313&set=pb.109460289217516.-2207520000.1356493700&type=3&src=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc6%2F230193_110845652412313_1131124241_n.jpg&size=429%2C285,
Some Videos:
* http://bdinn.com/news/country-wide-road-blockade-video-updates2/
* http://bdinn.com/news/road-blockade-begins-video/
* http://bdinn.com/news/video-a-countrywide-dawn-to-dusk-hartal-at-the-call-of-jamaat-e-islami/
Hope you got your Answer. Also, from the fact of hundreds of comments here in this Site shows general people’s concern about the so called War Tribunals
Thanks Mr Avebury for your feature. Actually present Bangladeshi government wants to violation our justice. Worlds should help them who are getting injustice.
What is wrong with the War Crimes Tribunal?
1. Government Interference
2. Defense witness being abducted, and tribunal refuses to order investigation
3. Defense Counsel harassed and offices regularly raided by goverment security forces
4. Defense lawyers face constant suspension for raising minor grieviences
5. Government supporter who has called for trials against these political opponents discussing case with the judge and even drafting verdicts before conclusion of trials
6. Limit on Defense witnesses
7. Prosecution found to be amending witness statements
8. Prosecution paying witnesses to testify, many lack credibility. Found to be giving false information regarding address and date of birth. Discrepencies in their statemnts.
9. Only political opponets are arrested and charged
10. Accused face inhumane treatment
11. Every International organisation say the tribinal lacks credibility and falls well below international standard.
close the tribunal.that not fair tribunal .
The leaked e-mails and phone conversations are very damning otherwise the government would not have ordered the ban to publish or air the conversation.
International observers say there is clear, undisputed and irrefutable evidence of criminal collusion amongst the recently resigned chairman Justice Nizamul Huq, Ahmed Ziauddin [an expatriate legal expert], State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, prosecutor Zead Al Malum and others.
Thanks Mr. Eric Avebury, we grateful to u. Its already exposed by skype discussion that there is a great conspiracy against Jamat Leaders. This tribunal is not impartial, its not International War Crime Tribunal, Its Awami Tribunal. Their only objective to Jamat. Because they think jamat is a political threat for them. Now we want to stop this Awami Tribunal.
Thank you for your concern.
In the conversation it is clear govt wants a quick judgment but the judge is not willing to do that to maintain international quality. So it can be said judge was not biased and any pressure didn’t work on him. But he resigned from his position so that no one can point accusing finger on the tribunal. And the tribunal is free and fair.
And about the missing of ranjan Bali you cannot say he has been abducted by govt official. Can you prove that?Do you have any idea about JAMAT ISLAM BANGLADESH?Now a days their activists are mostly destructive to stop this trial and save their leaders who were main aider of Pakistan army in genocide during 1971. Now a days They are beating police, threatening judges, politicians, even prime minister of Bangladesh has been threatened by them. So it’s not impossible for them to kidnap witness , so that they can blame tribunal regarding biasness. That’s their nature.
If you look at the act you will find there is no option to start the proceedings again in any situation. Pls look at section 6(6).
I would like to ask you Why international authority never felt that victims of 1971 deserve justice and criminals must brought under justice. You should have raised your voice long ago to punish those criminals and start the trial.But unfortunately you did not.
Now it’s a request to you please don’t listen to those who are trying to save some criminals who were free for 41 years. It’s time to punish them.
Who have been arrested are criminals and they were killing people in the name of religion and they will do that again.
I want justice, human rights should be preserve.
Why the Bangladesh government is so afraid Why the Bangladesh government is so afraid of an international inquiry into the tribunal if the evidence is strong and substantial and procedure is fair and transparent?
I WANT JUSTICE. HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD BE PRESERVED. THE TRIBUNAL SHOULD FORMED ACCORDING TO OBEYING THE INTERNATIONAL CODE OF LAW & JUSTICE.
Why Bangladesh Government is afraid of international inquiry into the tribunal ?
Thank you dear Lord Avebury. By law its already proven this tribunal following neither international nor domestic rules from begining
I do appreciate Mr. Eric for supporting justice which is denied in so called ICT here by various ways icluding abductinon on witness plain clothed law inforcing agency. Despite of plenty of evidence the abduction was denied. It is already proved that a free and fair trial is almost impossible by this government. It is also proven that this trial is ill motivated just corner the opposition. So many imphortent issues are being neglected. The the terror of the student wing of the rulling party exceeds like anything. Several sectors is being proven corrupted. No one from the government is pointing these as a problem rather pointing the same on others. We do feel the urge of UN iterference to back justice.
Thank you for your honest and justified opinion. I totally agree with you that the trial cannot go without a fresh hearing as the trial has already been polluted by justuce Nasim
This is not a war crimes tribunal, this is a political revengeful tribunal. Bangladesh government must shut down this illegal tribunal.
I further would like to add that the chief justice of the tribunal who has resigned and now got back to the supreme court has lost his right to cling on the post. He should also resign from supreme court immediately.
Thank you Mr. Eric Avebury. Thanks also to Liberal Democrat Voice for this truth news
they are simply proving that they are doing it very wrong as they are making it according to their very own will & procedure…
stop this, on behalf of humanity, on behalf of Muslims….
whatever u think they did, or u imagine they did…don’t forget that they are from the same race where u belong too…
JUST STOP THIS NONSENSE….
People of Bangladesh want the real war criminals face justice. We don’t want to see the War Crimes Tribunal used for political reasons.
…So I ask the government to maintain international standards of transparency .
Dear Sir, Eric Avebury thanks for your honest thinking’s & writings about the so called war tribunal made for killing of opposition political leader in Bangladesh by ruling government . thanks again for bringing the matter into our notice and i strongly agree with you. Bangladesh should stop this drama.
Thanks very much sir…
Thanks mr.eric for ur true openion..the general people of bangladesh are living in afraid .cz the government have been defeated to protect us.about all minsters are corupted…
Its just a political conspiracy of govt. party to kill the honest & popular leaders of bangladesh. Ultimately they want to destroy democracy & hope to rule our country forever.
Thanks to Lord Avebury for standing up against injustice.
There are happen injustice in that Tribunal. It should be stopped.
Many thanks Mr. Avebury for your so balanced article. People of Bangladesh will benefit from it. Hope that govt. of Bangladesh will take lessons from it and desolve the present so called international crimes tribunal(ICT).
It is clear that this tribunal is a stage of drama,i want to stop this drama as soon as possible.
It is needless to say that, the so called Tribunal lost its acceptance to not only the Bangladeshi conscious People but also all over the globall leaders and conscious civils. This false drama is being so funny day to day and ruling dictator minimized gradually.
We the Bangladeshi people demand the punishment of the real war criminals all time.
December 26, 2012
This war crime tribunal is a bullshit political game. Why did i say that? There are some prove
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=118188975015553&set=vb.109460289217516&type=2&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=532475226764252
Present government, ” Bangladesh Awamilig” is trying to take advantage of it. For the sake of one united country, Bangladesh, We should not use 1971 war in dirty politics and dividing our people. Alas! that is what ruling government doing !! Please Stop it guys. Every one wants that the real war criminals should be punished. But no one (except Hasina’s blind supporters) wants what Seikh Hasina and her party doing rit now.
please , stop it !!!
There is no doubt that this tribunal is totally fake. Speech of almost all minister of Govt. already prove that this tribunal is just for embarrassing a party n against Islamist.
To ensure the trial is fair, neutral and without all influence of any political parties, this should be under UN supervision.
many many Thanks Mr Eric Avebury………..for your true article
The Bangaldeshi govt. become a made to be winer on the next election. That’s why they are planning to kill all the opposition parties famous leader. Now they are planning to kill All the Jamate Islami Leader. But All the Bangladeshi People we know they innocent. People of Bangladesh want the real war criminals face justice. We don’t want to see the War Crimes Tribunal used for political reasons.
Closed it. It is a Awami tribunalTribunal.
I believe that Bengali Tribunal is a Parti and personal court for oppressing to opposite political leaders
Not only retrial, this defective tribunal has no any right and value to run for a single. I strongly suggest, this tribunal should be dismissed immediately and a new tribunal should be reformed under supervision of UN directly by international lawyers and justices.
I think there is no law and order in this illegal court. The court is running by willing of govt. Some person are taking individual benefit from this court. Former chairman of tribunal-1 also wanted to take benefit by giving decision. The leaders of Awamileage always make comment even they give decision before finishing a case. After this how do people believe that it is a fair court. People of Bangladesh are not fool. Definitely they will come into road against this illegal court.
BD War criminal trial is a conspiracy of present GOVT. They want to destroy Jamat Islami.
The ICT of bangladesh we are doubt about its transferance. Now everything clear to us over skype scandle that its political tribunal to attack opposition . Now we expect internation community and humans rights orgonization can take efforts to pressure bd govt to save our peaples and democracy .
The ICT of bangladesh we are doubt from the beganing about its transparant. Now everything clear to us over skype scandle that its political tribunal to attack opposition . Now we expect internation community and humans rights orgonization can take efforts to pressure bd govt to save our peaples and democracy .
Hmm….I’ve gone through the web site http://www.tribunalleaks.be . Any judge cannot discuss with others outside the tribunal. It showed judge’s dumbness. Moreover the tribunal judges seem to have relationship with state team. This will lead to a one sided trial.
Thank you very much sir. I appreciate it.
May Allah bless you.
I always belive that..one day the “Truth” will be highlight to all.
thank you so much mr avebury . we want justice. we hate like this political motivated justice.
.Thank you so much Mr Lord
It is a time to stand up for humanity and justice all over the world. Bangladesh govt is clearly unfaired for present issue. They wanted to kill some innocent people by judiciary killer….so u all stand for Bangladesh. This stand up will be counted historically as great …….
.
Mr lord hope ur good long life
this is ‘International War Crime Tribunal’, but none of its laws complies with the international standard at all. Government is not giving permission to any international lawyer to enter into this tribunal! Government is only trying to abuse opposition leaders, where there are war criminals in the ruling party itself. We strictly want fair trial, not political trial at all.
who are the war criminals?? after 1971 there were 195 pakistani army identified as war criminals and present govt. party Awame league have released them under Shimla agreement. as far we know this ICT didnt make any definition for war crime here. we general people observed this ICT are working completely political based and politically killing the oppositions.
What is wrong with the War Crimes Tribunal?
1. Government Interference
2. Defense witness being abducted, and tribunal refuses to order investigation
3. Defense Counsel harassed and offices regularly raided by goverment security forces
4. Defense lawyers face constant suspension for raising minor grieviences
5. Government supporter who has called for trials against these political opponents discussing case with the judge and even drafting verdicts before conclusion of trials
6. Limit on Defense witnesses
7. Prosecution found to be amending witness statements
8. Prosecution paying witnesses to testify, many lack credibility. Found to be giving false information regarding address and date of birth. Discrepencies in their statemnts.
9. Only political opponets are arrested and charged
10. Accused face inhumane treatment
11. Every International organisation say the tribinal lacks credibility and falls well below international standard.
and, 12. we want to stop the inhuman ICT Trial in Bangladesh.
First of All, A big thanks goes to Mr Lord Avebury to stand for Justice, fairness and truth of the matter. I am a Bangladeshi and I love the Bangladesh. All responsible, sensible people of Bangladesh want justice to be done those who committed crime against humanity in 1971. But they do not want to see a biased tribunal politically motivated by the current ruling party Awami League. As a result international community and human rights organisations expressed their concerned regarding the transparency of the ICT.
The “ Internnational Crimes Tribunal” supposed maintain international standard rather it is influenced and commanded by the current ruling party Awami League. Therefore, International community and UN should intervene to take care of independence, openness and transparency of the justice system for the Bangladeshi people. Lesson will be learned if this should be happened.
THANK YOU-LORD AVEBURY
Thanks to Mr Lord Avebury for pointing out the weaknesses and injustice of the politically motivated tribunal.
When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
It is already the biggest crime against humanity to charge a revered cleric like ALLAMA SAYEDEE, who committed his entire life for religion and faith – with thousand of non-muslims in BD were willingly converted to Islam by his miracles of power in the interpretation of holy Quran. Certainly there is none in BD to match his agility and genius in Tafsir of Quran. LONG LIVE ALLAMA SAYEDEE….
I’m utterly surprised seeing the audacity of these people who probably do not fear God in any amount. Dear Judges, advocates, investigators please fear God and his trial. That is unlike yours and that is too hard to tolerate.
This looks more and more like a matter that needs to be resolved within Bangladesh, with as little outside involvement as possible. Naomi Rahman has described some of the complications very well. There are obviously questions of interpretation of Bangladeshi law that can only be resolved by Bangladeshis, because it is their law, arrived at through democratic processes, and only through democratic processes can it change. Who do the people vote for?
The list of issues provided by Imran and repeated by Rafiq also shows that the matter needs to be addressed within Bangladesh. There would be little point resolving them for this one case and having to resolve them all again for the next trial. The resolution needs to be more general, and so requires a change of culture and expectations and even law within Bangladesh. There is no way that outsiders can do that.
Lord Avebury is, I presume, not working to overthrow the present Bangladesh government, but is working instead to help improve the lives of people in Bangladeshi? Who are the important people? Who need to be satisfied that justice has been done? And where are they? They are the 160 million Bangladeshi’s living in Bangladesh. Around half work in agriculture – probably more than in the entire EU. About 1/3 cannot read or write. What do they say?
People already know Awameleg try to give them punishment without justice, they are trying to get political benifit from this injustice , but the economist news paper n Amar Desh news paper publish their all hiden plan Skype conversation , now all World are raising their voice against Awameleg injustice ,
bANGLADESHI WAR CRIME TRIBUNAL IS A FAKE TRIBUNAL TO DESTROY OPPOSITION AND TO GRAB THE POWER BY AWAMI LEAGUE.THIS IS A VICIOUS PLOT BY INDIA AND BANGLADESHI AWAMI PARTY TO UNSTABLE OUR COUNTRY TO DESTROY OUR RAPIDLY GROWN ECONOMY,TO ERUPT VIOLENCE/CIVIL WAR.WAR CRIME DURING THE LIBERATION WAR IN 1971 WAS PREVIOUSLY SOLVED ISSUE.
I like to stop this illegal war crime tribunal . Becos I think awamililg make this tribunal for only political herrasment to opptiotion . They don’t like to actibeteis any other political party in Bangladesh .
I believe the Awami league government has politicise d the War Crime tribunal. The tribunal has lost its impartiality. It has no credibility in the eyes of general public in Bangladesh as well as in abroad. I strongly suggest the government to restart the whole process again and allow international monitoring for the benefits of fair trial.
Thanks to Mr Lord Avebury, stand for Justice.
There is no point in providing huge numbers of obscure internet references. It simply shows that there is not a single email that is compromising! If there is one, why not provide that one alone, and explain what’s wrong with it?
The role of demonstrators outside Bangladesh is not clear. Why are they not in Bangladesh itself?
I suggest that Lord Avebury pay particular attention to the important points raised by Sk Nabi, and to the question of how to assess competing claims in a context where the numbers of people visible on one side of an argument might indicate organization and communication rather than electoral significance.
https://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-bangladesh-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-32353.html#comment-233585
Perhaps Dr Chowdhury has a way forward
https://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-bangladesh-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-32353.html#comment-233564
Let us hope that Mr Lubbock visits the agricultural workers, and the people whose homes are flooded annually in the delta, and the less well-off in the cities, as well as the rich high flying lawyers and political leaders with their complex alliances and contests.
Thanks to Mr Lord Avebury to stand for Justice,
Present prime Minister of Bangladesh is well aware that Bangladeshi people do not support injustice. 35 Yrs ago her father along with her all family members were killed – Bangladeshi people supported her in order to get the justices done . She did it after 35 years. If she does any injustices today in order to gain political advantages – the nation will not forgive her and its ramification will be far reaching for her as well as for the nation. I like to request prime minister to be impartial specially in this regards and lets have an impartial trial – not politically biased.
I want to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity tribunal…………………..
Those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the liberation war of 1971 or any times should be prosecuted and, if found guilty by due process, severely punished. It seemed Bangladesh ICT is formed without consideration of international standard of human rights and law. Judge (Nixamul Huq) acted and directed by 3rd party and lied to Economist that claimed he did not consult with any one but indeed he did. Considering all of those point and after reading your opinion I believe this ICT have lost credibility. In this point Govt should stop the current tribunal and make a proper court with a jury and amend the current law with international standard otherwise it won’t be acceptable to the people . Eric Avebury thank for your opinion and I believe it will help the Bangladeshi govt and judiciary to up hold the justice.
Thanks to nr lord Avebury for speaking the truth.basically the tribunal which is conducting at Bangladesh gor the punishment of war criminal this is not a tribunal it is a killing machine to kill the innocent leaders undercovring the sp called tribunal.we want justice
It is really a praisrworthy task you did in respect of truth . Thank you very much for your recent article.
Thanks a lot Mr. Eric Avebury to reveal such a important issue. which is really helpful for banglashi gov to come out from illegal tribunal.
Closed this international crime tribunal
It is not coat it is like drama stage where some bad people acting as like a lawyer . The tribunal lost its trust ans proved they are based they can not make a fair trial .
first of all i would like to thank Mr Eric Avebury for bringing the matter into our notice. and i strongly agree with you.
as a human being its our moral duty to stand for any brutalities anywhere in the worlds
and this war crime tribunal is doing more than any worst barbaric things.
so it should be immediately stopped and free the innocent people are being detained for long three years
go ahead Mr Eric Avebury
Thanks very much.
“While I certainly support fairness and openness in trials, I wonder whether we may be over-reacting as outsiders? This seems to be an appeal to interfere with the sovereignty and culture of a country.”
As someone that has ancestral links with a certainly island at the bottom of India, where respect for human rights has declined over past decades, I only wish that GB did use it still substantial influence to support the victims of state sponsored intolerance, and challenge Governments whomever they are if they treat their own populace with little or no respect.
I suppose that as one of the worlds largest providers of arms, we could stop countries with weapons, which are used against their own citizens, or does our economic wishes override our own ethics and integrity?
INTERNATIONAL CRIME TRIBUNAL (ICT) BANGLADESH IS A POLITICAL TRIBUNAL. IT IS NOT TRIBUNAL OF JUSTICE. NO ONE SHOULD BE CONFUSED ABOUT IT. THE GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH HAS FORMED IT TO TAKE REVENGE ON POLITICAL RIVALS. THE JUDGES ARE POLITICALLY APPOINTED, THE PROSECUTORS ARE POLITICALLY APPOINTED, THE ADVISERS ARE POLITICALLY VINDICTIVE AND ALL OF THEM ARE PERFORMING A POLITICAL DRAMA/ AGENDA. IT IS A POLITICAL COURT FORMED BY A POLITICAL PARTY CALLED AWAMI LEAGUE CONJOINED BY THE COMMUNISTS.
IT IS NOT A COURT. IT IS A KILLING SQUAD IN DISGUISE OF A COURT. HOW CAN A JUDGE WRITE HIS JUDGMENT BEFORE THE TRIAL IS FINISHED. HE IS A DISGRACE FOR ALL THE LAWYERS AND LEGAL COMMUNITY. HOW CAN A OUTSIDER NAME MR ZIA UDDIN CAN FRAME THE CHARGES, WRITE UP THE RULINGS, DICTATE A WITNESS AND WRITE UP THE JUDGEMENTS???
THE GOVERNMENT SAYS THE SKYPE SCANDAL CAN NOT BE REFEREED. WHY , WHY AND WHY? IF U ARE TRYING TO KILL ME , I HAVE A RIGHT OF DEFENSE. IT IS NOT A TRIAL, IT IS A MASSACRE . I DONT AGREE WITH THOSE WHO ARE ASKING FOR A RETRIAL. JUSTICE NASIM SAID ‘ THE CASE OF SAYDEE IS NOT A CASE AT ALL, IT IS A GRAMEEN SALISH.’ THIS POLITICAL DRAMA MUST END NOW.
IT IS PROVED BEYOND ANY DOUBT THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE INNOCENT. THEY ARE TARGETED FOR THEIR POPULARITY, POLITICAL VIEWS AND IDEOLOGY. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES AND ORGANISATIONS INCLUDING THE UN MUST ACT NOW OR THEY WILL KILL OUR LEADERS.
Shazad Qureshi, 26.12.12 11:51
It is indeed true that the impunity for the crimes of 1971 (and all other crimes, for that matter) should end; but the international community cannot allow that to happen at a Kangaroo court.
Why not try them at the ICC in Hague?
(on a side note: there is no problem in seeking advice by a judge; but the concern is when the judgments are written for a judge by an outsider)
Thank you Mr Avebury.
You have clearly captured the truth at the peak of its needs. Some nowadays have become obsessed and drowned in their own greed, selfishness and evil games and some just completely ignorant but to see someone as yourself in this day and age to actually stand up for the truth proves there is hope for justice. I can not praise you enough for your work and mark my words the world always remembers those who stand up for truth and justice.
Welcome, R Uduwerage-Perera
Would you expect a modern state to tolerate citizens who, 40 years ago, perpetrated extreme violence against their countrymen? A state has a right and a duty to gets its executive to investigate and proesecute such crimes. That applies in Sri Lanka as much as in Bangladesh, Australia, and everywhere.
This discussion is about whether the Bangladeshi authorities are doing their duty in the right way, and whether the state is corrupting the process. There are also some possible causalities, inckuding people who may have been abducted by the police, except that there is also an accusation also the abduction was by the defense!
Mostly the case against the state seems to rest on illegally intercepted emails that do not appear to be compromising, and illegally intercepted Skype phone conversations. So far the case appears to consist of smoke rather than fire.
I have read 2 out of 17 hours conversation between Judge Mizanul Haque Nasim and Dr Ahmed Ziauddin. Their conversation mention clearly that:
1. Law minister Barrister Shafiq and Choto Law minister Kamrul Islam directly and home minister MOKA Alamgir and Info minister Indirectly involved with others in this plot.
2 Judge Zahir Uddin was forced to resign by law minister for his independent opinion and more judges will be removed if they found neutral or not obey the order of Ghadanic instruction to hang the detainees.
3. Ziauddin , Judges and Prosecutors and government become united to gain their goal to hang the detainees.
4 Judges are offered bribe to be promoted by Judge S K Sinha to hang all the detainees.
5 The defendant witness was disappear by police and the Tribunal and state has refused to recognise this issue.
6. Charges and Judgement has been ordered by the tribunal and accordingly prepared and supplied by Ziauddin to the court.
The documents and the circumstances proved that this is a drama staged under the cover of court to kill some innocent Political opponents.
I highly appreciate Mr. Eric Avebury for his observation and demand the matter should be brought to United nations as an urgent matter.
Once again thank you for voicing the TRUTH!!!
Stop this invalid traibbunal immediately
Where are the two hours of conversations?
It is not enough to just make accusations. Evidence needs to be produced as well.
I am a british born bangladeshi and I am really concerned about my mother land. Thank you lord e.ovebury for standing against the injustice happenning in bangladesh.
t is not coat it is like drama stage where some bad people acting as like a lawyer . The tribunal lost its trust ans proved they are based they can not make a fair trial .
thanks a lot…
When Bangladeshi individuals and media are under strict embargo on expressing anything that makes the war crimes tribunal, it’s law, procedures, objectives, proceedings questionable, Lord Avebury’s strong voice is a a great relief for justice, freedom and human rights loving people all around the world. As rightly initiated by The Economist, the global media have now kindly exposed the myth behind the so called free, fair, just, transparent, international standard & not politically motivated trial as shamelessly claimed by the government and all its political and ideological agencies, allies and cohorts. Otherwise, we would have remained in darkness and the nation would have been seriously affected by the ill-political design of the current fascist cheating government. We respectfully urge the global media and human rights organizations to thoroughly investigate and reveal the whole episode as they unearth the truth. We also believe that all those who are involved in the criminal conspiracies and abuse of legal & judicial process for their ill-motif political agenda to exterminate the opposition should be brought to justice immediately. As these farcical Tribunals’ abuse of law, power, due process, their violation of constitutional obligations, defying human rights and their blatant criminal conduct triggering miscarriage of justice have been exposed to the world community whereby they have lost trust, confidence, professional integrity and legitimacy, they should be immediately dissolved, their proceedings should be immediately declared null and void and the perpetrators brought to justice. We strongly demand formation of an International Tribunal under the auspices and scrutiny of a competent international organization like the United Nations where the entire process should resume ab initio for the trial of the heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during our glorious war of independence in 1971. The trial should be conducted following the precedents of other international war crimes tribunals under and in accordance with the well-established and recognized international law relating to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Dear Lord Avebury, as you have a great heart for peace, justice, democracy, human rights and rule of law with proper knowledge and understanding thereof, your voice is important. Any change from injustice and violation of human rights to justice and upholding human rights that is influenced by your strong voice will certainly keep you alive for ages.
i want justice but i become very disappointed when i see these things.i don’t understand why the govt so hurry when currently there are so manny bigger problems in bangladesh. My question is are they really trying to punish war criminals or are they trying to destroy their opponent jamayate islami.
thank you very much Mr Eric Ashbury for this beutiful article
Thank you very much for your great work.
You seem to be Blind Mr Richard Dean!!!
You wanted single example from e-mail. I Provided that. Have a look at my previous Comment.
Demonstration outside the World shows literate people who care about the future of our country strongly opposed the mockery of Justice.
I Have Provided link of videos and Photos which shows how people within Bangladesh are reacting in the Street. Violence is very much common in demonstration nowadays. Thousands coming on street. People are protesting everyday.
Repeatedly you are saying the problem needs to be Resolved within Bangladesh!!! This is rather absurd! We know about the Ruling Government. Whole Bangladesh is like a Prison now. Our concern is if this continue , then people will divide, Bangladesh will be in a state of civil war!! only the international invention can Save Bangladesh from this Violence.
bangladesh Awmilig start a a tribunal against the islamic leader and opposition party of our country. saydee is the greatest man in our country ever i have seen
I’m sure that it is unethical for a lawyer to advise both the prosecution and the judge in a case, unless there is some particular arrangement in Bangladeshi law that makes this possible and ensures that it is done without bias. I am not sure that the emails provided by Noman show that, but it certainly looks like it should be investigated.
I see from the photos that people are marching in Bangladesh. The photos I saw look like orderly, peaceful protest. Are there others showing something different? Unfortunately I cannot see what people are marching about, and I have no way of assessing how representative they are of the Bangladeshi people. Perhaps the BBC could assist here? And certainly a visit by Lord Avebury to find facts might also help British people to assess the situation.
https://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-bangladesh-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-32353.html#comment-233578
As a matterof interest, why does the yellow-backgrounded name Noman at the top of that message contain a link to http://www.tribunalleaks.be/? And how is such a link arranged?
Mr Noman
People are protesting???? 😮
Who are these people?
JAMAT ISLAMi wrong headed activists don’t represent whole BANGLADESH. They are criminals and they must be punished.
JAMAT ISLAM was a criminal, is a criminal and will remain criminal. They killed people in the name of ISLAM. And now they talk about justice, fair trial. It’s a real joke!!!
Whatever happening in the tribunal is absolutely ok. JAMAT activists are creating chaos in Bangladesh as they did in 1971. International authority should raise their voice infavour of victims of 1971. Not for those criminals.
Please let BANGLADESH handle this issue. International authority needs to be concerned more about Somalia, Palestine and some other countries like those.
I have looked at the document provided in Noma n’s second link, which is
http://bdictunveiled.com/bdictunveiled/Archive/Docs/1/GhulamAzamCharges_Final_Draft.doc
The properties field of the document has AZ as the author. The text and and context of the document seems to be an attempt to draw up a list of charges, but it does not refer to specific clauses in statue law. Rather than charges, it could equally well be a summing up. Is this format of charges or method of accusation normal practice in Bangladesh?
Lists of charges occur in all courts. Any such a list has to be transmitted to the court in some way. Email seems to be a sensible way of doing this, although probably in the UK the email is to the court office rather than directly to the judge. What is the normal way of transmitting charges in Bangladesh?
Perhaps some legally qualified person who knows the UK system could also look at the document and comment?
It’s crystal clear to the whole world that it’s a politically motivated tribunal.Before publish the dialogue between the chairman of tribunal and the Brussels based lawyer Ahmed Ziauddin it was only doubt about the tribunal, but now it’s crystal clear.we want justice as well but not in a kangaroo court . It has to be done fearly. Fear enough let’s go to the heauge if this Bangladeshi govt has the faith on international war crime court.otherwise, it’ll never accepted to anyone accept awamileugue .
Thousands people gather to hear the speeches of one person. They run after his discussions like the swarm of locusts. They arrive at a fast pace from very far area spending their pocket money by different transportations to listen to his astounding voice. They wait hours and hours. Footpath and roads become the last resort of the people when they find no place inside the conference venue. To hear the speech of a person, mothers and sisters in Islam remain keen waiting. The speech of their hearts are reflected and echoed in one voice. Childs, juveniles and youths pay attention to his influential talk like spell-bound.
He is a person whose speeches are thoroughly researched. A name is discussed worldwide. He is such a Caller to the way of Allah (Dayee Ilallah) whose artistic and smooth presentation attracts hundreds non-Muslims to take shelter under the cooling shade of Islam. He is very close and dearest person to the thousands and millions people.
He is Allama Delawar Hossain Sayedee whose fame has scattered over the various parts of the globe from the green land of Bangladesh. Allama Sayedee is today a very known and dear name to the Muslim ummah in the whole world. His talks persuade all walks of people and help them to be stringent in the way of Allah.
Allama Delawar Hossain Sayedee is a living legend and one of the renowned Islamic scholars in the present century. He has been working diligently and spontaneously for the last 5 decades of his life to preach Islam among the mass people. Basically he is an orator with astonishing voice and he can capture the attention of thousands people through his eloquence presence and changing the direction of people’s life by his influential talk. He has travelled each and every corner of Bangladesh with his mission and wherever he goes, it brings festival because thousands people irrespective of age, sex and religion gathers to hear the explanation of the Holy Qur’an from him.
Allama Sayedee is highly capable to explain the meanings of Al-Qur’an in a very easiest and understandable way. Being influenced by his lectures, so far more than 1000 people have converted into Islam and taken Shahadah under him. It has been seen that almost more than 90 percent of his audiences are full with youth who are meant as the next future and nation builders.
Youth are very interested to attend his lectures and inspired by him because he is not like a so-called orator rather he brings current issues in his talk and gives instructions from the Qur’an about it. He is motivating youths to take the shelter under the cooling shade of Islam and to dedicate their life for the sake of human welfare through which they can reach Allah SWT. Thousands of youths have recognised that their lives have been totally remodeled from unethical activities to moral activities and they came to understand the truth hearing his influential talks.
Thanks for your Lib Dem voice .
This is true that judgement is not political designation. Its law full decession . Asian politics makes divided those nation like Bangladesh .so our nation is not understand whats the politics or court Judgement .Mainly ,appointed judge from political ,so how we can expect lawful judgement .
Thanks Mr. Eric Lubbock for ur true response
It might also help to know whether Bangladeshi justice adopts an adversarial approach, like in the UK, or an inquisitorial one, like in France, and to know what type of inquiry or court the one in question is. The two systems may have different norms as regards the eithics of who should communicate with whom about what.
This tribunal is clearly awami hipocracy,so it sould be stop as soon as possible.
Thank you for your comments.stand against the injustice on war crime in Bangladesh
I do not know Allama Delawar Hossain Sayedee. Some of what he does seems to be good. Part of his Wikpedia entry looks like it’s written by a follower, but even so the entry details some aspects of his preachings that are likely to upset any secular government, particularly his claim about fatwahs.
It appears he has threatened the press, and that violence marred his previous visits to the UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delwar_Hossain_Sayeedi.
Any responsible Islamic cleric would agree with me, and with many like me, that it is important to ensure that proceedings at a trial are above board. It is also wise not to be too naive about what some of the more imaginative friends of a defendant might claim in support.
If the government and the people of Bangladesh really wants the justice of the crime committed during 1971 and if the government think that the so called accused persons are really committed crime at that time then what is the problem of the government to do the entire trial transparently followed by international rules. In that case nobody could raise the question even if the accused persons are proved as convicted and punished by court. But certainly i can assure that judicial killings in the name of so called war crime trial will definitely turn Bangladesh into Somalia or Afghanistan like situation. Because being democracy practicing organization like Jamaat E Islami will lose their control over one section of it’s workers who may chose to go to underground with picking up the gun at their own hands to take the revenge of the killings of their leaders.
Trail is totally Drama, International Community should protest this so called prosecution.
Mr. Richard Dean.
To know for what people are marching about. Look at the photos of leaders in those protest. I know it is impossible for you to read what was written on Banners. But people hold photos of the accused leaders in the banners and festoons. I gave those photos to show you how much support people have against the War Crimes tribunal.
If you want to see the Violence you better see those video link I have provided before. For you, I’m giving the link here again:
http://bdinn.com/news/video-a-countrywide-dawn-to-dusk-hartal-at-the-call-of-jamaat-e-islami/
I do like your idea that BBC can come forward to assist. And hope Lord Avebury would pay a visit in Bangladesh to know the truth and break the confusion.
I intentionally put that link of that website: http://www.tribunalleaks.be. I thought whoever read this Opinion and make comment can have a visit to that website so that the truth is revealed.
In reply to your Second Comment: This is not a Summary. That was a draft of Charge Order. It’s Judges duty to prepare a Charge. Why someone else from outside would do that? If so, what is the role of a Judge? Judge Nasim issued the same Charge Order and without changing a single bit!!! Giving an order written by someone else is not acceptable anywhere in the world. And let me add a little with the role of Mr. Ahmed Ziauddin, He is a very strong activist who gave many speech in public gathering against the Accused. Even appeared in Television talk show. Please, tell me how can he be fair and not biased? Taking advice from a biased person (he is against Jamat’s Political Ideology) is gonna produce Fairness and justice? I will left you to judge. Also, according to the Bangladeshi Law if Judge take advice from an outsider, then both Prosecution and defense must know. Defense team was not informed about the role of Ahmed ziauddin.
First of All, A big thanks goes to Mr Lord Avebury to stand for Justice. I want to say that it’s not an international tribunal. There’s no dout it’s a political tribunal .nationaly & Internationaly it’s already controversial . So that should be stopped imedietly for a fear justice
War criminals are notorious criminals which are observed in Bangladesh during 1971. We expect remarkable punishment of them – not time killing by discussion or criticism up to next Govt. Because associates of war criminals expect that the next Bangladesh Govt. will be in favor of them and the judgement process will be stopped like past Zia, Ershad & Khaleda Govt.
So, we expect no excuse; only punishment of war criminals.
Richard – there are many who may or may not agree with the politics of JI. But one important thing we cannot abandon is the rule of law. The rule should apply equally to all. If this person has committed a crime, he should be punished.
We cannot support a trial which has so many flaws and is clearly politically motivated. We cannot seek justice by carrying out injustice. This matters more to people of Bangladesh, we want to see the the real war criminals punished. With all respect, this may be less understood by someone who isn’t a Bangladeshi.
The ruling party is playing with people’s feelings. People so badly want justice, but instead the ruling party are using the tribunal to play politcal games. This offends many Bangladeshis.
I cannot emphasise enough…getting the real culprits is very important for the people of Bangladesh.
It appears that the violence in the videos is associated with a country-wide strike (“hartal”) called by the Jamaat-e-Islami. The website headline says that the strike was “enforced” by the Jamaat, which suggests that many of the strikers may have struck against their own wishes. If this is true, it may be the duty of all democrats to oppose the Jamaat.
It seems that the procedure for charging someone in Bangladesh is rather different from what Europeans would be used to, so it’s rather difficult to assess whether the procedure was appropriate or not. Cultural context is important. There would be little point in enforcing foreign norms if no-one in Bangladesh knew how to apply them.
Politics of hatred and politics of revenge is nothing new in Bangladesh. This is something better understood by people of Bangladesh.
In the West politics is politics, you don’t don’t kill your opponents.
i would like to give you my the heartiest felt thanks for your article. yes what is happening in bangladesh this is not war crime tribunal .this is something to eradicate opposition. the way they are trying to do the tribunal it is absolutely shame for court of justice of the world. the whole world community including united nations would they come forward to stop this injustice.
Yes indeed, “this may be less understood by someone who isn’t a Bangladeshi.” That is really my point all along. There is only a limited amount that people like the UN can do. Most of the work has to be done by Bangladeshis in Bangladesh. And indeed the 2008/9 election results suggest that the people there support the government.
Thanks Lord Avebury for your honest and fair criticize. Tribunal need to rearrange with accepted Judges and prosecutors.
I strongly agree with you
Dear sir, thanks from my core of heart to support us.
it’s a politically motivated tribunal , it’ll never accepted to anyone accept awamileugue .
One thing I need to make Clear. No one denied that the War criminals should be tried. But no one want this political Tribunal to continue. They want re-trial and with International Supervision to ensure Justice and Fairness. International Supervision would not attack Bangladesh’s Sovereignty.
You commented, Bangladeshi people should decide how they gonna ensure Justice. I hope, more that 200 comment here, more that 3000 comment in Economist, Demonstration by Bangladeshi community around the World, Protest within the Country, even many well-known Lawyers in Bangladesh asked for the International Supervision. They want a neutral investigation. International investigation would be acceptable.
I don’t think we should talk about a Person (as many including Richard Dean commented on Saydee). We are discussing here about the the independence and the fairness of the Tribunal.
Moreover, in one Comment Richard Dean said there is also allegation that the Defense team abducted the Witness. I would ask him can you Justify why Defense team would do that where Mr Bali (Witness) willingly wanted to witness against the Government Investigation team of that Case? He wanted to tell how the investigation team forced him to witness against the Accused. Mr. Bali gave an Interview before television and in a Daily newspaper. Millions of People watched and read that interview. You would certainly not understand Bangla. I provided a link here, which was written by a neutral Journalist . I hope Mr. Dean would read and have the courage to accept the Truth:
1) This is How the Witness was Abducted: http://bangladeshwarcrimes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/abduction-of-defense-witness-outside.html
2) David Bergman took an Exclusive Interview with the Wife of the Witness: http://bangladeshwarcrimes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/exclusive-wife-of-abducted-witness.html
3) Defense argued to look at the CCTV recording. But Court denied: http://bangladeshwarcrimes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/evidence-of-abduction-look-at-tribunal.html
thanks for your article the injustice what is happening in bangladesh that should be stopped.
thanks for your article
The suggestion that the witness may have been abducted by the defense was made by Sk Nabi in
https://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-bangladesh-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-32353.html#comment-233735
There are 160 million people in Bangladesh. About a third live below the poverty line, and more than one third don’t read or write. Relatively few will have mobile phones or internet access. I imagine that most of the Bangladeshis commenting here and on the Economist website may have many advantages compared to those people in Bangladesh, and may therefore have agendas and views that, quite naturually and properly, do not necessarily represent those people in Bangladesh.
I agree that there can be advantages in getting an international body to prosecute war crimes. But I would prefer to ask those 160 million people what they want.
Thank you very much for voicing concern regarding this illegal tribunal.
Yes, Hartal was Imposed by Jamat. But in Bangladesh Politics, it is only successful only when the People respond. And this clearly the fact.
I respect your concern that Bangladesh would face their own Problem. This is what we are fearing of. Until now, in past 2 months at least 8 people died in Demonstration. Hartal, Road Blockade and other demostration is an everyday scenerio in Bangladesh. Let me show you some footage of Todays demostration (You would understand Bangla, But look at the amount of people protesting in the Street):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=452550374792641&set=vb.100001130475818&type=2&theater
Also, I’m showing some recent Violence Photos in Bangladesh:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=137741693048624&set=pcb.137741773048616&type=1&theater
One Thing Is pretty much clear what People Want. Just Look at how many people Supporting You!!!
I Hope…Mr. Dean you are pretty much clear from the amount of Response that what Actually Bangladeshi People Want!!!
Again Salute to lord Avebury to Raise this Issue. This news of Lord Avebury’s Opinion was published with importance in most of the mainstream Media in Bangladesh.
It is seem to be a politically biased Tribunal , made it with a view to hang opposition leader. It is a vague tribunal that Law Minister said it is a international war crime tribunal. on the other hand state minister for law said it is a internal tribunal.
Actually people gets confused . And Minister Suronjit expect by December 2014 they will hang 14 Jamat Leader .
It Is therefore proof that they do not want fair trial .
Richard Dean. Thank you for your comment. But i must say, that i wouldn’t be surprised if there was more people in Bangladesh using facebook, than in the UK. Internet is widely available in Bangladesh, and is spreading in the country, though connection is very slow.
Richard – election victory of present ruling party was due to combination of many issues. The past government had it’s failures and yes, the promise to prosecute war criminals was a vote winner including with many in my family and myself. And of course many were suspicious the ruling party may use the tribunal to oppress political apponents. Surprise surprise, the 10 people arrested are political leaders from the two main opposition parties. It seems you have to be high up the ladder in opposition to be charged with war crimes. Almost over a year later, they lost an important mayoral election, the people soon started asking questions of this government.
They know they are very fast becoming unpopular and to remain in power they have made changes to the election commission and constitution, which the oppostion groups disagree to.
The main point here is that it offends many Bangladeshis, when sensitive issue such as war crimes is used for political vengeane. It’s especially painful and disrespectful to those who have lost their loved ones. Not forgetting the fact the accused may be hanged for being opposition leaders.
This trial has no credibility. To have a fair trial where the REAL war criminals are bought to justice, we may need the help of outside court. The Hague, this way we can avoid all this pantomime.
Mr, Richard, can you please visit-
http://tribunalleaks.be/bdictunveiled/index.php/documentation/audioconversation/audioenglishtranslation
How the process is abused—– The delay in bringing the process of prosecution has made it impossible for the defendants in this case to receive a fair trial. It should be instantly noted that the gap of time between the commission of the alleged offences and initiation of proceedings has been as long as 41 years. It goes without saying that with the passage of time memory fades and power of recollection becomes very trying. This is applicable both for the prosecution and defence witnesses and their evidence. With the passage of time witnesses disappear either because they are dead or they have changed to a distant venue of residence without notice in which circumstances it is impossible to find them. In such an eventuality, the defendants are more adversely affected than the prosecution. In the case of prosecution, if they fail to prove the case against the defendants nothing happens either to the prosecutors or to the prosecution witnesses, and at the end of the case they can safely go home. But it is not the same situation with the defendants. If the defendants fail to produce witnesses to support their defence or the evidence of the defendants themselves is less than efficient due to lapse of time, they not only suffer from the ignominy of conviction recorded against them but also suffer from possible long term prison sentence or sentence of going to the gallows to lose their lives. These are grave enough reasons for which judiciary in each and every country of the world gives strict guidance to the judges to deal with cases with utmost care. In all European countries the Judges strictly follow the provisions under Article 6 of the European Commission on Human Rights. In the United Kingdom Article 6 has been
incorporated in the body of Human Rights Act 1998 passed by the Parliament. Article 6 of the ECHR entitles a person charged with criminal offence to a “fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal”. In the United Kingdom it is the statutory duty of the Court to ensure that the judges are independent and impartial so that an accused receives a fair trial. Mr Nizamul Haque, the presiding judge of the Bangladesh tribunal is very much a controversial figure as to whether he could be treated as an independent and impartial judge. The defence lawyers had already made application in Court stating detailed reasons as to why he was not an independent and impartial judge. Judge Haque has already rejected that application. Route to appeal from Judge Haque’s rejection of the application does not exist. It can be said with certainty that had these proceedings been attempted in the Court of United Kingdom Abuse of process would have been a major issue.
What is wrong with the War Crimes Tribunal?
1. Government Interference
2. Defense witness being abducted, and tribunal refuses to order investigation
3. Defense Counsel harassed and offices regularly raided by goverment security forces
4. Defense lawyers face constant suspension for raising minor grieviences
5. Government supporter who has called for trials against these political opponents discussing case with the judge and even drafting verdicts before conclusion of trials
6. Limit on Defense witnesses
7. Prosecution found to be amending witness statements
8. Prosecution paying witnesses to testify, many lack credibility. Found to be giving false information regarding address and date of birth. Discrepencies in their statemnts.
9. Only political opponets are arrested and charged
10. Accused face inhumane treatment
11. Every International organisation say the tribinal lacks credibility and falls well below international standard.
and, 12. we want to stop the inhuman ICT Trial in Bangladesh.
Defense witness Mr Bali was initially prosecution witness. When told the accused may face the death penalty, Mr Bali cried and told family and friends how he was coerced by prosecution team into making false statement. Once prosecution understood that Mr Bali had now become a defense witness and he was due to tell the court of prosecution’s wrongdoings, he was abducted from the court yard in front of the police, by people who claim to be from Detective Branch. We have had counter claims from the government of course, but the main concern here is the failure of the tribunal to order investigation of the abduction, which is what normally happens. And the police witnessing the abduction and doing nothing. This of course made many people question the tribinal’s credibility and fairness.
Unbelievable Response. I couldn’t restrained myself from Commenting here.
I tried to read many of the Comment. Specially the Debate between Mr. Noman and Mr. Richard Dean was informative.
From a neutral point of View, i think this issue has a huge public interest. All those comments shows People in Bangladesh want Justice and Fairness. I listened some Of the Conversation which was there in this English Documentary: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200365907494843&set=vb.1369760936&type=2&theater ( Conversation was in Bangla, I had to read the English translation). It clearly shows government influenced the tribunal. As a result I don’t believe this government can ensure transparency. Only way justice can be established is by violence. Which is quite fearful. Recent violence shows Bangladesh is in Deep Trouble. to save Bangladesh from this Violence, and ensure Justice and Independent of Tribunal, International Community must come forward. They must step in, investigate and trial should start again under International Supervision. Huge response to this opinion of Lord Avebury shows this is what people of Bangladesh Want.
If Mr.Bali changed his story like that, he is probably not a very credible witness. Who is to say that his new story is not also a lie, or forced on him by the defense? Maybe he was going to change his story again! But yes, someone should find out what happened to him – that’s the police’s job and they don’t seem to be doing it very well.
Dear Mr. Richard Dean,
Thanks for your comment. This posts comment section can be takes as the reference, how the are trying to misguide foreign peoples. all the comments are in similar pattern. any one can understand that they are trying to flood this article, as other opinions are flooded with their molded comment.
I THANK YOU VERY MUCH MR DEAN, MR NOMAN AND MR IMRAN FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. MR DEAN’S CURIOUS QUESTIONS AND MR NOMANS AND MR IMRAN’S INFORMATIVE AND DOCUMENTARY ANSWERS HELPED ME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT A TERRIBLE CONSPIRACY WAS PLANNED BY THE NOTORIOUS LAW MINISTERS AND THEIR GONG.
A VERY BIG THANK TO LORD AVEBURY WHO UNMASKED A PLANNED MASSACRE IN THE NAME OF SO CALLED TRIAL.
30 people protesting in a street is not a large number. There are 160 million people in Bangladesh, If this was a large demonstration, there would be long range pictures showing many more people than 30. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=452550374792641&set=vb.100001130475818&type=2&theater
It’s difficult to know what the “recent violence in Bangladesh” is about. The police may look tough, but it’s the protesters who are burning something, not the police. If this had been a story about police brutality the person who uploaded the picture would have surely uploaded something quite different.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=137741693048624&set=pcb.137741773048616&type=1&theater
It’s a little excessive to first incite violence and then claim that the government caused it. Is that what the Jamaat are doing?
I await further information.
we do believe the present government is just trying to hang some of the opposition leader for their political interest. this is nothing about war crime in 1971. even the Skype chat between ex-tribunal chairmen and other man proved that the government don’t want anything accept a arrange hang order.
Bangladesh govt wants a trial only for political harasment for opposition. If they want a fair trial , they should do trial of Aoamilig rajakar at first then other. We also want trial but it should be fair.
Thanks. Exactly after the liberation war has over, the Awami leage government did not work to prepare a fresh list of three thing which are very important to our national history and life.
No 01. The List of freedom fighters. By category- as: The defense personnel, Retired personnel. EPR.Police, Anser personnel and the civil persons. Another category is:
List of rightist freedom fighters .
List of leftists freedom fighters.
Non Muslims freedom fighters .
Freedom fighters Trained up in India.
And Trained up in others etc.
No 02. The list of the people who gives their lives during the war, by category as died in war field, in accident, in India, Number of Bengali nationals and number of Non Bengali nationals has died. Other are:
Died Before 25th March 1971/
After 25th March to 16th Dec1971/
After 16th December to 10th January1972.
No 03. List of collaborates. From Bengali & Non Bengali….etc.
The fact is that this war crime and of collaborates. Trial has been completed as well and punished by then that of the Awami league government, and activities closed as it has declared finished.(Simla agreements and local trial).
This International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is totally biassed.
It is International Tribunal only by name, they r not allowing any International Lawyer here.
This judgement is totally political.
All the picture link posted here are fully biased pictures. They don’t show the actual situation of trial process and wishes of Bangladeshi people. I can show you thousand of photos in supporting the trial process.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MJ86nWvxd8s/T2Y_TvOJxTI/AAAAAAAAAAk/XD-egnRpxvE/s640/6993894825_ef0cd79be3_z%5B1%5D.jpg
http://www.comillaweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/matlab-uttor-dollae-pic-1-11.01.12.jpg
http://bbparanews24.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dsc098231.jpg
http://www.chtnews24.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PIc-22-12-12-2-300×214.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qgW2SJZ_pd4/Tq4avrXgW0I/AAAAAAAAAJ0/kyoUGbX5hhI/s1600/30-10-2011_78370_Barlekhai+juddhaporadhider.jpg
http://thenews71.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Pice.jpg
Many thanks indeed to LORD AVEBURY. Mr. Dean the pic u hv uploaded onto ur above comment was a portion of many other processions. Yah I agree with u that 160 m people in Bangladesh, but u will be agree on that practically every single individual can not take part in every step, therefore people in Bangladesh is protesting various ways according to their choice. Moreover u ll certainly be in the same voice that “Yes Govt. in Bangladesh is oppressing opposite parties to suppress their voice for Justice, Justice and Justice “.
Jamat did the arson and so on when? Rather Govt. used police source in opposite parties all, not only one but also every, democratic programs. Even u would be astonished that they attacked prog. held into the Bangladeshi Press Club which has actually never been happened. Home Minister (HM) and PM herself asked their political workers to beat Jamati people across the country, wherever they are caught. So how u then ensure social security after being said earlier words (HM and MP)? u can ask any civilian in Bangladesh that where these 2 souls said so as Electronic and printing Media broadcasted it.
Mr. Richard Dean, Skype scandal proved that the so-called Tribunal is unfair, biased and Bangladesh government are related with this tribunal scandal. So, how the victims or Bangladeshi people will get justice ??? Bangladeshi people wants justice that’s why here everyone supporting Mr Eric and only you the person who talking about against this article.
We are the new generation of Bangladesh, We want a fair trial with the help of UN and international judges.
This biased tribunal should be stopped without any further delay.
Thank you very much Mr Avebury for your article.
Please, watch this video– https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=378618802229086
It shows the actual wish of Bangladeshi people.
First of all, with great respect and honour, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation and regards to Lord Avebury for not only his analytical article, but also for his appropriate and legitimate words.
Firstable thanks to you because we are aware about war crime tribunal but govt not accep thisone .we feel this is not fair tria so your report will help to accurate knowledgefor all bangladeshi people . To your raising. I thing lots of problem this teibunal
Again to you again
Thank you Mr Eric for showing your concern.it is essential for any such trial to be fair and just,which should ensure that justice prevail.A judicial system in any country must be beyond questionable but sadly in Bangladesh this system is also corrupted.and certain group of politician seems to be controlling the system for their own personal vendata .this kind of writing can help us reach to those ordinary citizens who wants to see the changes to be happening from now.once again we are much obliged to see a high profile personality like you to be concern of such a important matter.
Thank you very much Lord Eric , I really appreciate the way has pointed out the weak points of the war crime tribunal of Bangladesh. The tribunal seems highly politicized. As a Bangladeshi citizen I am concerned about those innocent people who have been accused for war crime. Many of them were too young to do such things in 1971 but still they have been arrested. Recently police arrested 20 meritorious female students from a flat and didn’t allow them bail and they were taken into 2 days remand without any accusation. The female students are still in jail, they are ruining these student’s life for no reason.
Last week db police arrested 41 meritorious innocent shibir students from many place by mobile hacking .they were taken into remand they already punished out of remand One of them had his whole body smashed and yet he was alive & made to walk. Another had his hand hit bad and fractured. Five of them had their eyes poked into and severely injured. Most of them had their nails pulled out. All in a single day.
We do want International world and UN to help our people in this situation as we can see that this government is trying to use the war crime issue to oppress the opposition parties which will reassure their win in the next public election.
The most important thing is we want UN and all other international organisation to come forward in this regard to establish justice in Bangladesh. We want justice and it seems quite impossible if the current procedure keeps going in Bangladesh .
this tribunal totally fail to prove that they are impartial.skype scandal proved that this conspiracy against some political leader.so it must be stopped
World Crime Tribunal of BD is a Opera house.
Please Save Jamat Ledar. Stop Tribunal.
abu ahmed siddique 26th Dec ’12 – 3:33pm
i would like to give you my the heartiest felt thanks for your article. yes what is happening in bangladesh this is not war crime tribunal .this is something to eradicate opposition. the way they are trying to do the tribunal it is absolutely shame for court of justice of the world. the whole world community including united nations would they come forward to stop this injustice.
It’s crystal clear to the whole world that it’s a politically motivated tribunal.
This is not a war crimes tribunal, this is a political revengeful tribunal. Bangladesh government must shut down this illegal tribunal.
It’s not a International crime court, it’s a B,AL court, Hasina planned a secret mission to stay on power for a certain time,but we are Bangladeshi ppl are united, we will not give any chance to do any judicial killing in our motherland,And we will take power to our hands by another revolution like 1971,
please,stop it please!!!
Mr. Richard,
Have a look on this photos:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=508320595868519&set=a.103155809718335.7120.100000717500424&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073842375731&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073836255578&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073834455533&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073834095524&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073833495509&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073833295504&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073829615412&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073828935395&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4073823455258&set=a.4073822495234.2145744.1572585756&type=1&theater
Quick Response to you 30 People Protest!!!
I think either you are blind. Or you are not good at Counting!!!
Only 30 People here?? Alas!!! I thought you are neutral minded. Now it is clear, you not courage enough to Accept the Truth>>>
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=452550374792641&set=vb.100001130475818&type=2&theater
We
want free fair fresh retrial. we seen before war crime fair. It was totaly political.
Dear Richard Dean,
With great respect towards your honest views, I apologise if any of my following comments in their contrary offends you in any way.
You seem to base your statements on the argument that, foreign authorities should not intervene as this undermines the independence of the judiciary. I totally agree to this. I believe the underlying principle of your reasoning is to establish Justice and fairness. And that is exactly what has been breached! If you strongly believe that judicially expert people, residing in a foreign country, directing the Bangladeshi Judges about Judicial matters is unacceptable, then how do you think it is justified when Mr. Ahmad provided certain directions to the chairman of the Tribunal? Moreover, what makes it even more unethical is the fact that all of this was done unprecedented and under veils! In addition to this, the leaked clips clearly, on multiple occasions , project the fact that all the charges were void ab initio.
If a foreign participation in tribunals are so much unacceptable, then why did almost all the other tribunals in the past was either chaired or atleast observed by foreign academics? To clear out further, we the Bangladeshi youth, want to wipe-out our stains from our glorious past. We do not want a foreign intervention as a whole, but merely a foreign participation and observation. We demand International standards because the trust of the people on the current regime seems to be vapouring out. You see, back in ’71 thats exactly what our people cried out!!! We wanted freedom and we asked the “free” world to help. If that wasn’t a problem then, then why now?
I believe, Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere. This is why, like thousands activist like Lord Avebury and us, you brother should also feel concerned.
Thanks Mr. Avebury for your article. Now the situation in Bangladesh is no one can’t talk against government.
For example opposition leaders are in jail. One renowned newspaper in Bangladesh
“Daily Amardesh” editor Mahmudur Rahman bind in his office for 2 weeks. What type of democracy we got ?
The ICT is a kangaroo tribunal. This tribunal is not following international laws
even domestic law. When they need they are making the rule. Still government says this is fair tribunal. Whether a justice can’t talk about this even with his wife. Now whoever talking about truth in Bangladesh their place in jail.
Even they government try to control Blog and social media.
Government should stop this kangaroo tribunal.
Richard – critics of Jamaat are often blinded by the mist of hatred and as a result find themselves calling for the death penalty of those accused even if they are innocent. They will defend the tribunal no matter how farcical it becomes. Let’s not forget, people accused here are from other opposition parties too. But taking sides here based on political ideology is exactly what is wrong with the tribunal. People of Bangladesh deserve more than that. People want the real war criminals punished, not people who have a political belief you and I disagree with.
With regards to protest turning violent, it all depends on what you want to believe. I believe if there is constant arrest, abduction and killing of opposition activists and opposition leaders, you will naturally see protests on the streets. If the Police are siding with the government and the violence from the police becomes disproportionate, you will see the crowd react. But you know that better than me. The most important thing to remember here is that we do not get sucked into taking sides because we like the ideology of one party and do not quite agree with the other. Rule of law and fair trial should apply to all, regardless of their political affiliation.
I will make the point again – people do not want to see the war crimes tribunal used for political and ideological battles. They want to see it used to punish real culprits.
Richard – critics of Jamaat are often blinded by the mist of hatred and as a result find themselves calling for the death penalty of those accused even if they are innocent. They will defend the tribunal no matter how farcical it becomes. Let’s not forget, people accused here are from other opposition parties too. But taking sides here based on political ideology is exactly what is wrong with the tribunal. People of Bangladesh deserve more than that. People want the real war criminals punished, not people who have a political belief you and I disagree with.
With regards to protest turning violent, it all depends on what you want to believe. I believe if there is constant arrest, abduction and killing of opposition activists and opposition leaders, you will naturally see protests on the streets. If the Police are siding with the government and the violence from the police becomes disproportionate, you will see the crowd react. But you know that better than me. The most important thing to remember here is that we do not get sucked into taking sides because we like the ideology of one party and do not quite agree with the other. Rule of law and fair trial should apply to all, regardless of their political affiliation.
I will make the point again – people do not want to see the war crimes tribunal used for political and ideological battles. They want to see it used to punish real culprits.
There are about 30 faces in that photo. Sure it looks like the front of a march, but where’s the rest of the march? Hidden by a yellow banner? Well, maybe, but hiding them behind a banner is not convincing. Anyone who has seen a political rally covered by supporting media knows how a photograph can tell a thousand lies. Why not show the whole procession? And why is the grain quality so poor?
The Law minister of Bangladesh was telling people the tribunal will maintain its transparency through out the course of trial, however, it remained in his lecture and the practice is totally opposite. It is clear from Mr. Zia Uddin’s conversation that he is personally worried of Mr Shahinur who is trying to refer his judgments to the international law and practices. This is the clear sigh of being motivated by the political agendas, otherwise they wouldn’t have any problem to allow international bodies to observe and make comments on the trial.
I agree with Imran on the following point, that decisions about the validity of this trial, and actions taken in that regard, should not be based on any assessment of whether the accused is innocent or guilty.
Put another way, you may believe the defendant is innocent or you may believe he is guilty. That is not relevant to a discussion of whether the tribunal proceedings are fair or not.
I am glad we agree on something. That is a good start, and a good omen for the future.
Richard- there have been thousands protesting nearly every day against the sham tribunal. But it’s up to you what you choose to believe.
Whether it’s 30 people or 30 thousand people demonstrating – it does not mean the accused should become victims of political vendetta. That would be no different to murder.
We as humans are often tested to see if we abandon our values when we see our political or religious opponents face persecution.
Sometimes we are tempted on abandoning those values, many do and I hope many of us don’t. No matter what religious or political affeliation the victim has.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=532855180059207&set=t.100001149749138&type=3&theater#
please have a look on this link. that’s how jamat shibir is reacting in BANGLADESH and on the other hand they are using statements of international personality like Mr eric to prove that international community is in favor of the
SK Nabi – are you claiming that AL are a non-violent party? Yes or No
Maybe you should watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9pfPeKONYY
How about the student wing of Awami League (BCL Thugs)? Have you forgot what they are capable of?
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=260842
SK Nabi – it is clear there is no limit to Awami League brutality. Even women and children are not spared.
It seems we are now agreed that it was 30 people and not 30 thousand.
Of course this does not mean that accused persons should become victims. But it does reduce the credibility of those persons who previously claimed that “most” Bangladeshi’s are protesting.
And so it reduces the credibility of the claim that the accused persons are victims.
If most Bangladeshi’s believe the tribunal is fair, then Avebury and Amnesty and the UN need to step very carefully indeed. Just like me, they will have a lot of difficulty understanding the reality of Bangladeshi politics.
Awami League have a long history of violence and terror. Awami League are destroying Bangladesh.
Violence and brutality by Awami League.
Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoL86PumPZU
Richard – I did not say there were only 30 peope at that protest.
What I can say is that thousands have been protesting against the tribunal. If you google, it shouldn’t be very difficult to find this information.
Bangladeshis from all walks of life protesting outside Parliament.
Huge London Demonstration held by British Bangladeshi Community outside Parliament building on 20th November 2012 against the brutality and unfair trials against political opponents.
Watch video:
Video #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flXicjslP98
Video #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShJkz9Q2tPI
I feel the best way to deal with this s to bring all the accused to the Hague.
Hopefully it will be a little bit more difficult to abduct witnesses from the Hague court yard.
Dear Mr. Dean,
I appreciate your concerns and I agree with the points that you raised, but I think you are fighting a losing battle here and your words are falling in deaf ears. Lord Avebury’s current standing is now very clear to everyone who had been fighting to bring these accused perpetrators to justice, so now a days, they don’t pay much attention to what he says and don’t even care much to comment on his misguided/misleading views. But as you have found out in the last couple of days, there is an army of people engaged to defend his views and support these baseless claims by the accused war criminals, their defense teams and their political affiliates. They are trying to make a point by the numbers instead of substance. When the Economist article was finally published we also noticed a similar online campaign where it seemed an army of people had been appointed to post comments supporting those articles with little or no substance. If you compare the comments posted here with the ones posted on the Economist article, I am sure you will find a lot of identical posts.
There is an uncanny resemblance between the criticisms from the defense team and Lord Avebury’s. I had been following his recent activities and it is now very clear that he is siding with the accused war criminals and their political affiliates. Similar to the articles written by known lobbyists hired by the defense team, Lord Avebury’s recent criticisms typically fails to mention any existing challenges to these claims. A typical propaganda article from this camp will contain a few or all of the following:
1. ICT is not following International Standards: and the article will fail to explain that ICT is not an international tribunal but a local one prosecuting International Crimes.
2. There is no ‘bail’ for the accused: and the article will fail to mention that the currently accused had a track record of fleeing the country to evade prosecution and they will also fail to mention that bail had been approved for at least one of the accused.
3. Bali had been abducted by the government: and they will fail to mention that he was a prosecution witness that went missing for months and police had been looking for him. They will also fail to raise questions why the defense team did not disclose the whereabouts of a missing person to the authorities while he was in their custody.
4. Stephen Rapp prescribed Rome Statue for the ICT: and the article will fail to explain that Rome Statue cannot prosecute any crime committed before 2002.
5. The current trials should be held by ICC (International Criminal Court): and the article will fail to mention that crimes committed in 1971 is outside ICC’s jurisdiction because of point #5.
6. UN group on Arbitrary detention criticized ICT: and the article will fail to point out that Bangladesh government did not respond to their letter and they published their report without conducting any investigation on their own and their report was solely based on complaints from the defense team.
7. Human Rights Watch has criticized ICT: and the article will fail to mention that one such report from Human Rights Watch, claiming that the Bangladesh Government was intimidating the defense witnesses, was published before the defense team even disclosed the names of their witnesses.
8. ICT judge was talking to a legal experts in Belgium: and the article will fail to mention that these conversations did not break any laws.
9. Points taken from the Skype conversations: and the article will fail to mention how those materials were illegally obtained and how there are no proof that these materials are not doctored. The article will also ignore how this hacking may have compromised all ICT secrecies regarding witness protection program and how this may explain why certain prosecution witnesses became fearful to testify while some openly admitted of being intimidated by the defense team and their political affiliates. Some published email snapshots clearly show that communications between the named judge with other tribunal judges and prosecutors were also compromised but those communications were never published by the hackers.
In the mist of all the Islamophobia in a post 9-11 world, a group of activists are fearlessly fighting to protect the rights of the Muslims. It is possible that Lord Avebury’s involvement with the Jamaati lobby started from similar sentiments, but it is hard to believe that he doesn’t understand the difference.
Dear Richard Dean
Being a Bangladeshi we know what Awami League is capable of doing. They have a track record of committing despicable crimes against their opponents which is second to none. People are too scared to speak against them in BD. However, blogosphere is different and you can see it from the comments posted above. I personally have lost relatives and friends and some are still in jail. 1971 to 1975 Awami rule and the present Awami Brutality and state terrorism is the proof of that.
Anyway, back to the issue. How can you have trust in a tribunal that according to it’s head/chairman, is run by Awami politicians and activists like Zia Uddin in Brussels who not only wrote the final judgement months before but also managed the whole day-to-day drama. This sectarian and politically manipulated show trial is in tatters save in the eyes of the perpetrators of this crime. If this goes ahead, we will always carry a burden of double guilt as a nation. One for not punishing the real criminals and the other for punishing the innocent. International community will also have a share of that guilt for their inaction.
Mr. Alex Lawson and 99% of the above GOT IT RIGHT. And Thank You Mr. Eric for this timely article from depth of all Just Bangladeshies.
I think it is very poor tribunal. Most of the Bangladeshi dont support this. Current Govt. wants to prevent his opp party leader to ensure not to participate next election.
Thank you Mr. Eric Avebury. Your Article is true. I am a Bangladeshi and all we know what drama is gong on in the ICCT. Our judiciary system has been collapsed by the intervene of government. People has become restless because of the oppression of the government. The government want to ensure the power again in next election therefore they machinate how to demolish the key leaders of the opposition. The trial of crimes against humanity in 1971 is such a kind conspiracy of government. And it is being cleared when we see that they arrest only opposition leaders for this trail. In fact there are many people who are alleged of war crimes in 1971 in there party.
We are Bangladeshi people living in the UK are deeply concern about the so called war crime tribunal in Bangladesh. From all the evidences it is proved that this is just a cangaro tribunal to disable opposition leader in the name of trial.
International community should come forward to protect this injustice.
Thanks Mr Eric for your voice in favour of justice and human rights in real sense.
Thank you for expressing concern about this scandalous kangaroo show trial
I cannot find any coverage of the 12th Novembver demonstration in the BBC website. So I guess it was not “huge” or “mammoth” at all. http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/bangladesh
I do find quite a lot of other interesting material though, including fires in textile factories, trade with Burma, and an article on the strike called by the Jammaat in early December which suggests that the violence originated withbthe demonstrators. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20586045 . Another article supports the claim that thousands of people are protesting in order to get persons suspected of crimes in 1971 released from arrest. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20600082. The report also says that many Bangladeshis are annoyed at these strike actions. The outlook for the sons and daughters of the relatively well off seems hopeful. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20501072
All of these BBC reports are well worth watching., and I am sure Lord Avebury and Amnestsy and the UN are up to speed on the dangerous events that are happening there.
Nor indeed anything for the 20th November
Thanks
A timely contribution from Lord Avebury. As a victim of war crimes in Bangladesh in 1971, I want to see those responsible brought to justice. However, two wrongs do not make a right. Punishing the wrong people for political purpise, which appear to be the motive, will only lead to more chaos and unjust. We live in a global village and have a responsibility to ensure justice in our world.
Mr Richard Dean, yes I assume that most of the Bangladeshis are concerned regarding the fairness and the impartiality of the tribunal as the whole process of the trial has now flawed . It has made clear by the conversation between x chairman of the tribunal and Mr Ziauddin who lives in Brusells that Govt has no intention to justice. They just want to take political revenge in the name of this trial. Therefore, most of the Bangladeshis who really love the country , and who got a bit sense of justice and are honests they are 100% doubtful about the fairness of this tribunal. If the Govt really wanted justice of war criminals, they (Govt-) would arrange a tribunal in maintaining the international standard, they would maintain fairness in processing the whole trial, they would follow and respect the recommendations of international organizations, they would allow the international lawyers to practice in the tribunal for the sake of justice, they would not abduct the defence witness at the court premises from the car of defence lawyers, they would invite the UN and other International organization to assist them in processing the trial. Because war crimes are defined as international crimes, and at that time when these crimes were committed (1971) international world (India) was also involved with the liberation war. That is why, it would be vital if the Govt would invite the UN to arrange and supervise the whole trial process then most Bangladeshis would feel happy and would believe that the Govt had no other intention behind this trial. Therefore, the Govt has totally failed to arrange a fair trial. As a result most of the Bangladeshis have lost their faith to this Govt. They now demand that the UN and other international organization would come forward and will arrange a fair and independant trial so that innocent people are not punished.
Lot’s of Thanks to Eric Avebury.
Wanted to say one thing to Mr. Rechard Dean. He talked about expressing thought as a democratical right. I want to add that Yes, you can talk all nonesense; you can beat aroud the bush; a drunk man can also have a view. But it is the speech with evidence that counts and needs to be taken into consideration.
Your some opinion in the face of clear evidence of corruption in Bangladesh judicial system and Gov’t interference in Justice process, will find no place. Just think twice who you are siding with. Even writing has a tone that people can understand and tone of your writing clearly shows is NOT backed up with evidence. Just look at the number of comments posted here. Looks like you are an outcast. Don’t be stubborn in your thought if you are sincere.
This is not a war crimes tribunal.Bangladesh government illegal tribunal that not fair.
Well, a fact finding mission by Lord Avebury could be helpful., But the BBC seem to be saying that most of the people who live in Bangladesh are annoyed at the Jamaat-e-Islami party for organizing these protests and strikes, and annoyed at the protesters and strikers.
The videos show scenes of riot, not scenes of protest. The rioters looks like relatively small groups of young thugs. This kind of behaviour is reminiscent of the London riots a year ago. It is not likely to gain much support from a majority of a population, nor indeed from the UN nor Amnsesty nor probably Lord Avebury.
If you want to see what succesful protests look like, with truly huge numbers of peaceful demonstrators, look at the videos of the American Civil Rights Marches of 50 years ago. Those demos achieved something fantastic. The scenes in Bangladsesh suggest that the Jamaat won’t achieve anything in the end, except more pain.
Another thing mr Richard dean – we don’t trust B B C . Because its on a mission to establish uk governments agenda . And as like you BBC also are one sided . Ok so be cool and look what Bangladeshi people can do for justice .
So suddenly you don’t trust the BBC, because it shows you a truth which you cannot see yourself? Huh!
The BBC has limitations, yes, but it usually tries very hard to present things impartially. Besides which, it’s the videos that tell the story, not the BBC itself, nor even its correspondents .
To assess fairness, look at the comparisons between Bangladesh and Bahrain. The demonstrators are seen to be causing the problem in Bangladesh. That same BBC shows that it’s often the police that cause the problem in Bahrain.
Many people trust the BBC in these kinds of matters. So if you want support, criticising the BBC is not a way to get it!
@Richard Dean
Couple of surveys were carried out by main-stream print media, more than 70% vote came against the so-called ICT, that means everyone wants a fresh retrial, no one is against justice, everyone has been demanding a free, fair and non-biased Tribunal where justice is ensured, but our opposition to this tribunal is because of the controversial formation of so called ICT,many irresponsible statements by cabinet members which directly violated code of conduct of the tribunal, they publicly declared in the month and on the date the verdict will be given,
no Bangladeshi citizen can expect justice from a arrogant and jealous lady like Hasina, under whose leadership police arrested 21 innocent ladies without any allegation against them, amongst them one woman is pregnant and her bail was refused although she does not know what she is arrested for,
Bangladeshi people are not free to speak out, if any one speaks against this fascist government he will be either arrested or abducted by law enforcement agencies, in that case we really do need support and assistance from international community.
I agree with M Rahman, the BBC have failed to give much coverage to the Tribunal or at least have failed to report on the reasons for the protests.
Richard – you will find that the Police always side with the ruling party and can use excessive force. Not only Jamaat, all oppositions groups come out and respond if the Police use disproportionate. Surely we’re not claiming only Jamaat resort to this sort of thing????????? Awami League when they were in opposition didn’t only torch vehicles and shops, they killed people.
Unfortunately this is how politics is in Bangladesh. Which is why the cycle of violence is likely to continue with the biased tribunal likely to further inflame things, promote politics of hatred continues. People are sick of it.
Fact finding mission is a great idea!
I think it should start with finding out what happened to Mr Bali. I think his family have suffered enough.
We all know BBC are not perfect. Mr Dean, sureley you know this better than most.
BBC have not reported on the trials once. I think that is unfortunate and who knows, they may report on the trials in the future. But to suggest the BBC is somehow a trustworthy news organisation, will not impress many. Especially victims of child abuse (Jimmy Saville).
Thank you for bringing this unjust trial to public attention. Awami govt is keen to finish this trial when no one is looking.
Thank You sir for your excellent writing. . . You have brought actual situation of Bangladesh. Saluting you >>>
It’s very clear from the links that I provided that the BBC has indeed reported impartially and has indeed described the goings on at the tribunal.
To be fair, I don’t think we can only single out the BBC for not reporting in-depth on the tribunal. I thnk this is mainly because the story is not something which does not interest or appeal to the western population. BBC, Sky and Channel 4 have not really taken the story in detail. I hope they do soon…
Thank you for the most important report. We think that our government’s also guilty. If They don’t want to admit
it. At list They should stop lying. We regret and are embarrassed that, We’ve got some Minister, Who are corapt
and such a great liar.
Richard – I think people of Bangladesh wants what the lady in this report wants. She wants politics to be kept out of it.
I think fair/impartial reporting from Al Jazeera, I hope you will agree:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt-8fM_Hg5s
I think AlJazeera report on Bangladesh more often than western media because you have many Bangladeshi people living and working in the middle-east.
Let me give you one example of Fascism of Ruling Government:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/gNNkJY9Myps
While the whole of Bangladesh is struggling for some justice, the country’s laws and judiciary are compromised and incapable of meeting the people’s needs. At every point there are contradictions and inconsistencies. Meanwhile, the police and other security forces kill and torture with impunity, and there is no relief in sight for the victims or their families. Read this report by Asian Human Rights Commission:
* http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/journals-magazines/article2/0504/laws-without-order-courts-of-no-relief-in-bangladesh#.UNpX6bqLTw8.facebook
Read this Articles and then Comment:
* Report by Wall Street Journal : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323777204578189153918592308.html
* In depth analysis by Foreign Plicy Magazine: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/21/the_midlife_crisis_of_bangladesh?page=full
* Mockery Of Justice In Bangladesh: http://www.arabnews.com/mockery-justice-bangladesh
* In recent days, Bangladesh has become mired in chaos with strikes, protests and police brutality dominating the headlines.: http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2012/12/18/a-tribunal-exposed-leaked-correspondence-suggest-a-disturbing-pattern-that-risks-a-miscarriage-of-justice/
Read the whole article (it exposes the Problems with the tribunal) and then Comment:
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/sattaunusanditsu/sattaunusandhani/6/tribunal-leaks/
Read carefully Economists Article which exposed the Mockery of Tribunal: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21568349-week-chairman-bangladeshs-international-crimes-tribunal-resigned-we-explain?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e
If you look at the video, Imran, and listen to it, you will hear that this brave lady does not want this process to drag on and on. She is not asking for outside interference from the UN or Amnesty or Avebury. She is not defending the people who are on trial. She does not say so explicitly, but it seems that she wants justice to be done through the present tribunal system.
People of Bangladesh want justice NOT political assassination. Well done lord Avebury. Really helpfull.
thanks very much indeed everyone who make their comment and express concern about war tribunal in bangladesh.
hasina government arrested innocent opposition party leader and accused them as a war criminal .i am very much sure
them opposition leader whose were arrested in Bangladesh are innocent . hasina government won’t be able probe them as war criminal. and Bangladeshi people are aware of hasina government doing injustice to them arrested political leader. about 95% people of Bangladesh want them political leader to be release immediately without making any false charge. i hope all international community will come forward to monitor this situation and save our country.
thanks every one again
Many many thanks for ur truth voice
Mr.Richard Dean, for your kind information I’m a grandson of a Freedom fighter. I heard many stories from my family about 1971 War. We all want War criminals should be tried. But this tribunal proves to be political! We want to know why the real criminals (arrested 195 Pakistan army members in 1971) were forgiven and released?
We want to know why government wants to try Civilians who are political leaders? Do you know 30,000 cases were filed after the war to try the collaborators of Pakistan army who committed the murder & rape? Not a single case was filed against this Jamayat Leaders at that time. Even last 40 years no one filed a case accusing that they committed these crimes!!! Why now they are tried? Why everyone is from Opposition Party? Do you know Government’s State minister; MK Alamgir was a very Well known Rajakar in 1971? Many of the Government MP’s were the collaborators at that time, including MP of Saydee’s town Pirojpur. They would not be tried. Why? Because they are in Government! While the Innocent people would be hanged!!! Bloody Politics!
Tell me why court gave an order which was produced by an outsider? You avoided the fact that Mr. Noman put forward. Is it not wrong to produce a rough sketch of Judgement even before the trial process ended? How can a government force the Judge to give a judgement by December? Is this not wrong for the government to provoke the judge by saying give three judgement we will give you promotion? According to law Judges cannot talk with an outsiders regarding trial processing. The only way they can do is by appointing Amicus Curie. Tribunal judge did not do that. It means be broke the code of conduct. Conversation also says Government Law minister used to sit with these Outsiders at a regular basis. Even Law minister send Text message to that outsider that we want a verdict in December!!! Perhaps watch the documentary and then comment.
I think we are deviating from the issue we are started to debate. Recent violence shows Bangladesh is in deep trouble. Only way it can be solved is by International intervention. Defence will get what they wanted. And general people will be relieved that at least the tribunal is not biased and independent from government. Mr. Richard you already lose your credibility because of your illogical comments. Trying to avoid the truth. Good. Carry on. But remember, you would not able to dis-value honest comments given by 300 other people.
I think you will agree it is better to do it properly than to rush it and to find out later mistakes were made.
The accused will be hanged if convicted.
This woman want the real war criminals brought to justice, not political rivals of Awami League.
It is better to have UN and other outside involvement so each side does not accuse each other of wrongdoing later.
Richard – are you against the accused receiving a fair trial? People of Bangladesh do not want to play politcal games with the lives of accused. The only people who are interested in that sort of thing is the Awami League and their supporters.
BBC coverage and and how many people are on the streets do not determine if these accused are innocent or guilty, but you seem to think so.
The Awami League government issue new books to schools when they come to power. Giving their version of history,
The Awami League arrest and torture editors of news organisations which challenge the government. Even ban some newspapers.
They follow the dictator’s manual. How can all of Bangladeshis be informed of their evil intentions?
Thanks to social media and internet, the dictator’s manual is no longer effective.
So, now that you have realised that the brave woman in the Al-Jazeera video is not supporrting you, you change to something else? That is the behaviour of someone who refuses to see truth. You know it! And it looks like that person is you! I am seeking truth. It appears that you are running away from it.
But I am sure you are a reasonable person, and that a good night’s sleep will refresh you so that you wake up tomorrow morning and see the truth at last. Good night, and pleasant dreams, it was a nice conversation! 🙂
It is a politically motivated trial to weaken the political opponents. War crime trail cannot be fair in a domestic setting. We urge this trial in Bangladesh should be stopped and can be run with the supervision of UNO outside Bangladesh with the international war crime lawyers.
I do thank respected Lord Avebury for his timely opinion on this issue of judicial killing in Bangladesh.
Mr Richard Dean- Jamaat have resorted to hartal only just now. I personally dont know of any other time when Jamaat called a hartal apart from this year. The Awami League called a hartal for an entire week in the past. Recently the Communist party called a hartal which is an ally of Awami League. The police helped them, by blocking roads all over the country. This is unprecendented. Communist can barely get 100 supporters in the streets. If you judge by the pictures of how strong Jamaats support is, than i am afraid you are as naive, and intellectually defunct. Jamaat is the third largest political party in Bangladesh (just like the Lib Dems in this country- may i add), and the largest Islamist group there.
If i showed you pictures and videos of Awami brutality, u wouldnt be able to sleep at night. Heads, legs, arms chopped off etc. In October of 2006 they launched a brutal attack on the opposition, thousands were injured and a few killed by constant merciless beats with wooden sticks- slow and painful death, while this person cries out for help in vain, and the police just looks on. Even animals are not treated in such manner. i cannot express in words what they did in Oct 2006. Recently they killed a Hindu man named Bishwajit, stabbed him, beat him- all recorded on camera, broadcast in all Bengali channels, went viral in social media. His killers was identified by the people on facebook. If the people did not identify them, than the Police would not have done anything. But public outrage forced them to launch an investigation two days after the murder.
So stop being stupid and pretending to know stuff about Bangladesh, when really you know nothing. Period. Yes you have the right to say stuff. You also have the right to be stupid, but doesn’t mean its right for you to be stupid. Period. The perpratrator is Awami League who prevents Jamaat’s right to assembly as a legal organisation. So if people become violent after their democratic rights is denied, than its Awami League who is to blame.
Thanks
Richard – the lady in the report did not say she wanted innocent people hanged for the crimes. She prefers the real culprits to be hanged.
You have had people come on here and explain to you that all they want to see is a fair trial so an innocent man isn’t hanged. You it appear do not care if the accused are innocent or guilty.
Richard – you say: ” So, now that you have realised that the brave woman in the Al-Jazeera video is not supporrting you,”
Isn’t this a bit childish? Who is she supporting? Who am I supporting?
Richard – you say: ” So, now that you have realised that the brave woman in the Al-Jazeera video is not supporrting you,”
Isn’t this a bit childish? Who is she supporting? Who am I supporting?
Watched the video again. The lady in the report wants justice, she doesn’t say she wants Jamaat and BNP leaders wrongly hanged.
Thank you for ur report. I’m totally agree with your opinion.
The transcripts suggest that Mr. Ziauddin, despite having no formal, declared position in the war-crimes tribunal, plays a key role in the process, including helping to structure judgments and coordinating with the prosecution. The transcripts show the two men commenting about pressure from the government for a quick judgment.
In one conversation, in a recorded file labeled Sept. 10, the person identified as Mr. Ziauddin tells the person thought to be Mr. Huq that he is working on the “sketch” of how a judgment in the case of Mr. Sayeedi might look.
Mr. Sayeedi is charged with murder, rape and arson during the 1971 violence. He denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.
“We have prepared a rough structure” of Mr. Sayeedi’s judgment, the person believed to be Mr. Ziauddin said, according to another recording. “Once the structure is ready, the writing will be easy.”
That conversation is in a recorded file dated Oct. 14, more than a month before Mr. Sayeedi’s defense team began its closing arguments at the tribunal. The verdict in Mr. Sayeedi’s case, the first by the tribunal, had been expected later this month.
In other conversations, the two people grumble about pressure from unnamed government officials to deliver verdicts quickly. The tribunal’s proceedings are supposed to be independent of such interference.The two men complain about how they cannot deliver 500-page verdicts as quickly as the government is demanding. “In no circumstances will it be possible to conform to their time frame,” the person believed to be Mr. Ziauddin, the human-rights lawyer, said.
In another tape, in a recording labeled Sept. 11, the person identified as Mr. Ziauddin complains to the judge about a prosecutor who took action “without informing us.”
Speaking about Mr. Ziauddin’s role in the proceedings, Mr. Ahmed, the law minister, said the lawyer and the judge discussed only procedural matters and not information related to the merits of the case. He said the tribunal will press ahead with all its cases.
Mr. Ziauddin hasn’t issued a public statement.
Defense lawyers for Ghulam Azam, Jamaat-e-Islami’s former chief, another of the 10 defendants, on Wednesday filed for a retrial because of the alleged taped conversations. Lawyers for Mr. Sayeedi said they were also preparing to file for a retrial. The tribunal is expected to decide on the filings next week.
Shamsher Mubin Chowdhury, a leader with the opposition BNP, said the tapes show the war-crimes tribunal isn’t independent and should be disbanded. Mr. Chowdhury claimed there are members of the ruling Awami League who committed crimes in 1971 but aren’t facing charges.
“What is happening is a political trial,” he said. Some lawyers not involved in the tribunal said that Mr. Ziauddin’s alleged role in advising Mr. Huq might not have been improper but should have been disclosed to the court.
The transcripts have reignited a debate about whether developing countries like Bangladesh are able to conduct impartial war-crimes tribunals or should turn to international bodies such as the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
A U.N.-backed tribunal in Cambodia, where millions died during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, has sentenced only one person despite years of proceedings, with human-rights groups alleging political interference. The U.S. and others this year have criticized Sri Lanka’s investigation into mass killings at the end of its 26-year civil war in 2009 for allegedly whitewashing abuses by government troops. The Sri Lankan government said its probe was fair.
In setting up the tribunal, Bangladesh’s government was keen to show it could measure up to international standards, seeking the advice of international legal experts. But Stephen Rapp, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, complained in November 2011 on a visit to Bangladesh that many of his earlier recommendations for the tribunal had been ignored.
Mr. Rapp raised concerns ranging from the need for better witness protection to the difficulty the public faced in attending the hearings. Mr. Ahmed, the law minister, said in the interview Wednesday that Mr. Rapp’s criticisms were unfair and that witnesses have decent protection.
Human Rights Watch, the New-York based nonprofit group, last week called for a retrial in the case of Mr. Sayeedi, pointing out that after Mr. Huq’s resignation none of the three judges on the panel now hearing his case have been present throughout the proceedings.
One of the judges was transferred in March to a different war-crimes trial. A second judge resigned in August, citing health problems. The government says the statute that governs the tribunal allows for the replacement of judges.
The tribunal last week issued an order banning newspapers from carrying the transcripts of the phone conversations or articles on the matter. Mahmudur Rahman, editor of Amar Desh, a Bangladeshi-language newspaper that published the transcripts, said Wednesday he has spent the past seven days in his office to avoid arrest.
Much of the taped conversation deals with the need to reassure the international community that the trials are being conducted by international standards.
“We cannot adopt the traditional Bangladeshi way here,” the person identified as Mr. Ziauddin, the human-rights lawyer, says at one point. The World Justice Project, a U.S.-based non-profit group, said in a report released last month that Bangladesh’s courts are “extremely inefficient and corrupt.”
But in another tape, in a recording labelled Sept. 6, the person thought to be Mr. Huq complains about a judge hearing a different case before the tribunal for being “too inclined to international standards.” The judge, the other man replies, should be “removed from there.”
The judge remains on the tribunal. In two conversations, the man believed to be Mr. Huq says other judges on the tribunal have been told to always agree with him in his role as chairman of the tribunal.
Now everyone in Bangladesh is against the ict kangaroo trial . Nobody has seen them(accused) doing wrong in the past . Govt. also fail to prove that they are guilty . Now Bangladeshi people want to stop the trial but govt. is playing with people.
This is simple case of vengeance. There is zero credibility on the charges and the trial. It will further divide the Bangladeshi nation. Indian interest in this trial is for dubious reasons. Why doesn’t India hold trial on the killing of 120,000 Kashmiris? What about the 6000 unmarked graves in Kashmir? Has any Indian government dared to investigate that?
First of all I would like to thank Mr Eric Avebury for his correct comments and I support him for what he is suggesting about the bizarre war tribunal in Bangladesh. I think that the conscious Bengali people are aware of what’s going on in the society. There’s a lot of comments made by Mr Richard Dean, with all due respect, I don’t agree with a lot of the points he made, as a British Bangladeshi we have an extended family back home and I do get the feedback’s from them about what’s going on in Bangladesh. This person has been praising about the current Bangladesh. For your kind information sir, we have political opponents going missing. People are petrified of the government if they voice their opinion, which doesn’t suit them and the people are in trouble. The independent reporters who report against the government, they either go missing or get killed. The secret police of the current government are terrorising the political opponent, and they’re told not to support any of the opposition parties, for example: The BNP or the Jamatis. Since the government have gone into power, the ministers have suddenly become very wealthy; they’re buying properties around the world. Also most of the Awami league supporters are taking high ranking positions in the government post, regardless they’re qualified or not. At the moment the country is heading towards one party fascist government. Sir if you yourself go and visit the country independently, you could see for yourself what’s going on. I respect the Economist paper for bringing the truth to light. After seeing all this, how can any conscious person stay silent. The reporters are secretly told by the police, that if they don’t report in favour of the government, then they should stay silent. Or else the police will go and get their families. As a conscious society we should fight with rightful means to stop all this turmoil going on in Bangladesh. There has been a big scandal going on in Bangladesh, for example: People have been robbed in share market in Bangladesh, the tax payers money have been missing, the scandal about the Podda bridge. It has been all over the news. I hope that I haven’t offended anyone as I’m free to give my opinions. Thank you for reading.
A recent statement by the government law minister, Shafique Ahmed,
This one happens to concern a statement made by a government minister, but others will also deal with statements made by the defense or their supporters.
Bdnews24.com recently published an article quoting the law minister as saying
‘They (the accused) can appeal (against their punishment) and have the opportunity to defend themselves. It is an unprecedented provision in any such tribunal’ (emphasis added)
This statement comes a couple of months after the minster was quoted as describing the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act 1973 as ‘the best law in the world’ where he again, amongst other things referred to the fact that ‘the accused are entitled to file an appeal against conviction,’
The question:
Is Bangladesh’s 1973 Act the only legislation dealing with international crimes that contains a right of appeal against conviction?
Let us go through all the contemporary international tribunals and see whether they have rights of appeal:
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The 1993 Statute of the tribunal set up an appellate tribunal and Article 25 sets out the circumstances when an appeal of a judgment is possible.
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: The 1994 Statute of the tribunal sets up an appellate body and Article 24 seats out the circumstances when an appeal of a judgment is possible.
International Criminal Court: The 1998 Rome statute of the International Criminal Court sets up an appellate tribunal and article 81 titled ‘Appeal against decision of acquittal or conviction or against sentence’ and sets out the details of the right to appeal against conviction.
Special Court for Sierra Leone: The 2000 statute of the tribunal set up an appellate tribunal, and Article 20 sets out the circumstances when an appeal against a judgement is possible.
Ad Hoc Court relating to crimes committed in East Timor: In November 2000, the Indonesian Parliament passed Law 26/2000 incorporating the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – which as set out above includes the establishment of an appellate tribunal.
Cambodia: Article 9 (new) of 2004 law on the establishment of extraordinary chambers in the Courts of cambodia for the prosecution of crimes committed during the period of democratic kampuchea establishes both a trial court (known as the Extraordinary Chamber) and an appellate tribunal (known as the Supreme Court Chamber) ‘ Section F of the rules of procedure, titled ‘Appeals from the Trial Chamber’ sets out in details the manner and circumstances of an appeal.
Special Tribunal for Lebanon: The 2007 Agreement on the establishment of a Special Tribunal signed by the UN and the Lebanese government in 2007 sets up an appellate tribunal and ARticle 26 sets out the ground for appeal.
So The 1973 Act is totally unexceptional in having a right to appeal against conviction.
What the Law Minister may have been alluding to is that neither the accused prosecuted for crimes committed in World War 2 in the Nuremberg Trials (which took place in 1945/6) nor those prosecution in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (also known as the Tokyo Trials which commenced in 1946) had a right of appeal.
What is true however is that Bangladesh’s 1973 Act was the first international crimes legislation enacted with a right of appeal following conviction.
However, all those accused in contemporary tribunals do have a right to appeal.
Moreover, all the contemporary tribunals listed above have a right of appeal of certain decisions made by the trial court not only post-conviction but also in relation to certain decisions, made by the tribunal pre-trial (known as interlocutory appeals) which Bangladesh’s 1973 does not provide.
There was a change in the Bangladesh tribunal’s rules of procedure which allowed either party to seek a review by the tribunal of a decision which itself has made – but this is very different from an independent court reviewing the decision.
As far as I know (and if I am wrong please someone correct me on this) the Bangladesh tribunal has not overturned or amended a single substantive decision it has made that has come up before it for review before it – which of course is not really that suprising since it made the decision in the first place.
As Mr Shibli I also agree with Mr. Richard Dean, these are valid questions “A fish may feed ….. Perhaps a UN intervention will help for this day, …… if outsiders always do it for them?” In my opinion Bangladeshi people understand what is democracy and most of the people are in favor of justice and rule of law. But government did not pay heed to all these domestic or international criticisms and kept on with the proceedings. UN intervention is important to rescue these majority people from this fascist regime.
this tribunal is not national neither international.even some expart of this tribunal also says its domestic law but inernational standerds. but the problem is fully politiaclly motivated. war crime that is a serious offence. why 195 top criminal had been free that time, they are the real crimal. without them justice will not be fare.
recenty we have seen skyep report from news paper,so here justice ,minister,politicale leader,and left wing activities are involve with this justice and they prescrive the whole matter….so its not a trial any more.
i personally condem the whole matter.
Protest Against BD government and Tribunal… http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=518170344861395&set=vb.109460289217516&type=2&theater
Mr.Richard Dean Please see the link given below…I hope you will understand how cruel is this Awami Government, Police and the terrorist of their party.. .
Awami Brutality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqYBV8NBzgc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sboEbj0ijMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2NQu33Cp7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9fwUpGor68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63lz3dSvqCc&list=PL6FE6B9C156148591
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDQ8et3NU7A&playnext=1&list=PL6FE6B9C156148591&feature=results_video
Here just some videos…I hope these can make you understand the situation of Bangladesh instead of being biased…Please stop supporting this Fascist Awami Government blindly.
Eric ave bury thanks for your honest thinking’s & writings about the so called war tribunal made for killing of opposition political leader in Bangladesh by ruling government .
There are some more links related to ICT and its conspiracy, for your kind information:
1. A politicised judiciary International Crimes Tribunal short highlight – YouTube on Vimeo. (http://www.mediafire.com/?lwctaqyhd3g25ax)
2. malum_simon_Ghadanik_long_
campaign12_9. (http://www.mediafire.com/?17qfc8ar2iyfwcw)
3. Bad comment about Justice Jahangir and Zaheer 28 Aug – (http://www.mediafire.com/?1ca9bh1yqqip40j)
4. Judgments dictated by activist and partisan_ Ahmed Ziauddin _Part 2_ 10 Sep – (http://www.mediafire.com/?3xqatobwktav344)
5. Judgments dictated by activist and partisan_ Ahmed Ziauddin _Part 1_ 14 Oct – (http://www.mediafire.com/?52rfg809oc66peo)
6. Tribunal Chair prefer Yes-men over impartial judges short highlights – (http://www.mediafire.com/?5r7n7mzagodqhkt)
7. Arbitrary dismissal of defence petition short highlight YouTube – (http://www.mediafire.com/?axty7wvydme6crd)
8. Judge Nasim designs Prosecution witness testimony short highlights – (http://www.mediafire.com/?daeaycvlgwlapkm)
9. Judge_shaheen_kneel_down_to_AZ_16_10.
(http://www.mediafire.com/?dpn00sac6pel1ig)
10. Shawkat_Degrading_Com_Judges_Pros_11_9. (http://www.mediafire.com/?dq4tz8vfq4qd8g7 )
11. Arbitrary dismissal of defence petition_ short highlight – (http://www.mediafire.com/?iu5m1ttcahhg7q2)
12. Hangings Means Prizes_ Nasim is told to pass a quick verdict and get a promotion 6 Sep – (http://www.mediafire.com/?kr5a2lqej19q2gt)
13. Tribunal Chairman wants to deliver quick judgment even if that results in a one sided trial 9 Oct – (http://www.mediafire.com/?044z4d3ri2ml13m)
war criminals must be procecuted. But, guilt have to be proved at first. And this procecution should be under international law. Otherwise, this will be considered as a new drama of politics.
We want fare re-trial
Govt. of Bangladesh Makes A political Drama By named “International war crime tribunal” .But they are not follows any international act ! Police are arresting Opposition party’s leaders by Prime minister Hasina’s order without any cause. Absulately Our BAL Govt. are playing with our Innocent People.
Thank you Lord Avebury….
All we ask for is a fair trial for the accused.
it isnot a good trial..we cannot agree with this kind of bad trial ….
they are doing wrong as far as i think ..in my opinion they should avoid this kind of tril…..
allah is seeing everything …oneday allah will judge them……
Thanks to Mr. Eric for his such honest and unbiased publication , which most of us doesn’t have the guts to do . After publication of the skype conversation how they can run such fake tribunal whose target is the religious people of the country. They have recently arrested twenty young girls one of those is pregnant. They are not war criminals , they didn’t damage any public properties , nor they did any procession . Actually in th e name of justice they are doing whatever they want. Who will do the trial of an annocent witness,Ranjan Bali who just dared to speak the truth ?whose fate was disappeance in front of the court. Who will do the trial of tribunal chairman(!) who seriously breached his professional ethics? So such fake trial should be stopped before its too late.
This tribunal is completely politically motivated . The present government named this tribunal – International crimes tribunal . But none of its law or standers is comply with international standers .I honestly respect Mr. Eric’s stand for the Justice and Fairness. Most of the Bangladeshis are deeply concerned about the Skype Conversation. I think it’s an obligation for the international community to intervene, as Bangladesh have broken a number of international laws and treaties which they are party. This includes the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights especially article 9. Note that Bangladesh is a signatory of this treaty.
war crime tribunal in bangladesh is must be close.
Naomi – “the person believed to be” ? Is that all the evidence you have? Do you believe there’s a man in the moon?
Thanks to Lord Avebury. This court needs to be re-sheduled.As it is not maintaining international standard. The judges are also biased. Best way is try to relocate this court in and third country so that witness can not be abducted by Bangladesh Authority.
Thank you Lord Avebury….
All we ask for is a fair trial for the accused.Govt. of Bangladesh Makes A political Drama By named “International war crime tribunal” . I want to STOP this Drama & should punished the scamps (with skype scandal).
This Tribonal is a Comedy of Awamiligue.
Thank you Lord Avebury for your excellent writing , Really appreciating the fact that you could judge the actual situation of Bangladesh in a good manner.
Thank you Naoimi for the photograph which does show a larger demonstration
https://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-bangladesh-conspiracy-to-pervert-the-course-of-justice-32353.html#comment-233895
Dipu writes “War criminals must be procecuted. But, guilt have to be proved at first”. And Masum Billah wants a trial that is fair. But the history of these legal battles after democracy was restored in 1990 shows that fairness and requirements for proof do exist in Bangladesh, as can be seen from what happened to Ghulam Azam.
Muhammad Khan gives an interesting but rather selective history. It should be obvious to anyone that the problem is not fundamentally a political one, but a cultural one- obvious because it seems that all main parties, irresepctive of their policy beliefs, seem to allow some of their supporters to indulge in seriously violent activities.
So what is it in your culture that is causing you to have these problems? Only you know that – outsiders can only guess, and you won’t want to accept what they say. Not even Avebury, the UN, Amnestry, and HRW together can solve that for you – it’s something that Bangladeshis need to solve and do themselves in Bangladesh.
Thank you Eric Avebury.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
― Edmund Burke
Credit must be given to Lord Avebury for standing up to Awami League brutality.
We want to see Bangladesh without politics of vengeance and hatred. People have suffered enough.
Move the war crime trials to the Hague.
Thanks to Mr Lord Avebury and nor merely a thank is enough for he deserves much more for speaking the truth and also to be dare enough to take the risk of being blamed by the so called bangladeshi humanitarians to be biased to Muslim fundamentalists. these so called fundamentalists thinks that they only know what humanity is and what human rights are as if they are the monopolists of intellectuality and human rights. They also think whosoever do not follow their ideology of life are the fundamentalists and if these people are muslims then it is very much ok for them to pot rate these muslims as being even not human being.
These so called humanitarians are in the throne of Bangladesh and shamelessly trying their hardest to eradicate their political opposition in the name of trial called International War Crime Tribunal. How shamelessly they are betraying their leaderSheikh Mujibur Rahman who even forgave the actual war criminals 195 pakistani army officers during the independence war of Bangladesh in 1971 although it was another political agenda of Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujib had just to listen to her. Then the question of collaboration comes and that was also solved by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Mujib cancelled birth-right citizenship of some prominent people including professor Gulam Azam because of exercising his political right differently on Pakistani side. But later on the basis of not a single allegation was proved true against him, the Supreme Court of the country re-established his citizenship. But now to the horror! these so called humanitarians by misusing their power brought the already solved issue to the surface only with an evil intention of getting rid their opposition because they don’t have any moral or ethical base to work with the mass people of the country and for their failure they blame the easy target Muslim leaders and subsequently they seek every avenue to wipe out this opposition. To do this
It is about time the UN, ICC and the European Union got involved and sort this mess out once and for all. There can be no credibility in this court now, not especially after the chief Judge resigned. All the other judges are one way or another will have been infected by the chief judge . No verdict will be accepted from this court and it has brought shame on Bangladesh. All the arrested people are from the opposition parties and none from their own, even though there are freedom fighters who are saying their are traitors in the current government but none have been arrested. How can a witness disappear from the gate of the court. Basically nothing adds up and nothing makes sense because it is not a true court and they are deceiving the people of Bangladesh with lies. I sincerely believe the arrested people are not guilty and had they been real culprits they would had been dealt with a long time ago because even the people will not have a traitor living amongst them. The current government are trying to frame them, these people should be released with delay. I hope the international community act before a civil war breaks out in Bangladesh because then it might cost the country another 3 million lives to free the country from this corrupt evil that is ruling the country.
Thank you for a very insightful article depicting the tribunal case taking place in bangladesh for a group of people allegedly accused of war crimes. Your article expands on the flaws in this case, the prosecutors are so keen to have these people face the penalty of the crimes they are accused of, that they have turned to means such as reaching out to an outsider and not for general help, but to tamper with the tribunal. Its funny how a judge who is supposed to be fair and unbiased, is planning on working out ways on how he can manipulate the case. This definitely raises questions on the level of corruption that may be happening in the country that prides itself as a democratic country. Further questions are to be raised about how a key witness can suddenly dissapear, no one knowing whether he is alive or not. I believe everyone would like to see a fair trial, an independant group of observers who are unbiased needs to be deployed to watch through the whole process, to avoid any further tampering, and avoid the killing of a group of potentially innocent people. The one who takes the life of one innocent person is like taking the life of the whole mankind.
This is neither an international crime court nor a legal court of justice. This fake and illegal tribunal has been set up to prosecute the prominent opposition figures to make AWAMI LIGuE’S way to power smooth forever. To implement this ill strategy the current BD Govt is desperate and they will do whatever it means/costs. So I personally salute u guys who are trying to protect the human right and to emblem the justice across the globe.
Hey poor fellow, Richard Dean look into the fact, look into the history of 1971 BD liberation war and the role/involvement of different party or groups. U seem to have been suffering from knowledge shortage about this sensitive issue. That,s why u r driven by the illusive propaganda of savage and unprofessional political party like Awami ligue. Be reasonable, be factual.
thank you Mr Lord Eric Avebury to address the most burning issue of Bangladesh. the trial of leaders of one of the oposition political party, namely Jamat I Islami ( a moderate Islamic democratic party ) are fully politically biased and revengful, its undoubtedly proved when skype scandals came in to the day light. its really painfull and shame for us that a hugely popular governtment is trying to uproot its opponent using the whole machanism of law and order, the judiciary and the executive power. this is a complete shame. its not acceptable. its the mockery of justice.every one want the criminals of ’71 massacre should be tried, but, definitly with a proper international standered court with international judges and lawyers, internationally accepeted law and free from government pressure and interferenece . justice must be upheld and shown. form the skype scandal its proved that none of this is present in the running Kangaroo trail. so we urge to the British Government , UN, ICJ and all international organisation to come forward and take stapes to stop the mocakry of jusctice going in Bangladesh.
Thnx to Lord Eric Avebury once again to bring the issue to the public, we, as, Brithis Bangladeshi hope and request to his Lordship to take stapes to bring a motion to the Perliament.
I would like to thank Lord Avebury for your very fair and just opinion on the issue of the “International War Crimes Tribunal.” This is exactly what is missing in Bangladesh, fairness and justice. Powerful people can get away with killing innocent people. The politicians in power regularly interfere and influence the judiciary to achieve their political objectives and interests. Hence, the Bangladeshi judiciary cannot deal with the issue of War Crimes with fairness and justice. It should be taken up by the UN / International Criminal Court.
It would be extremely helpful for a ‘fact-finding’ mission to be organised by Lord Avebury and others from the UK. If there is nothing to hide or no conspiracy to punish political opponents then the Bangladesh Government should have nothing to fear!
Let’s have transparency and true justice for the thousands of victims of the war in 1970/1.
Lord Avebury is to be congratulated in bringing this important international issue to the attention of Liberal Democrats. War Crimes and human rights are not simply a domestic issue. Crimes against humanity are a valid concern for the the Intenational Community and none less so for members of the Commonwealth, when those crimes have occurred in a member state bound by treaty to protecting the rule of law.
Lord Avenury begins his article by stating “Those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971 should be prosecuted and, if found guilty by due process, severely punished.”
It is important to note however that no Pakistani Citizens will be tried and ‘Freedom fighters’ accused of crimes have been granted amnesty. The trials are for those East Bengali’s who oppossed independence and perpatrated crimes against separists. This ‘Victors Justice’ does not necessarily make the tribunal politically biased, but it does limit the scope and extent of its jurisdiction.
In 2011, Lord Avebury set out his concerns with the war crimes tribunal legal process to the Law Minister of Bangladesh, Mr Shafiq Ahmed in 20 ponts as follows:
(1)The refusal to allow foreign counsel to appear before the Tribunal. The decision maker, the Chairman of the Bar Council, is the Attorney General, a government appointee and a member of the prosecution team in the Chowdhury case at least. Further, the Attorney General and the Bar Council had commented that they would refuse the request before it was submitted, showing that it was predetermined;
(2) A number of members of the Tribunal participated in the Peoples’ Inquiry Commission (or People’s Court) that prejudged these cases in the early 1990s. Trials were held in which real suspects were convicted and effigies burnt to show the sentences of death passed. Some of those convicted then are now accused before the Tribunal – a copy is extant of the report naming the Chairman of the Tribunal as a member of the Commission;
(3) The failure to implement any of Ambassador Rapp’s recommendations. Despite what may be said as to their effect, the Rules of Procedure are now worse than they were before. The Law Minister holds regular “strategy” meetings with the judges and prosecutors, which is inappropriate;
(4) The failure to amend the Act and the Constitution. The Law Minister represented to Ambassador Rapp that the Constitution couldn’t be amended. This was untrue as the First Constitutional Amendment, the most egregious piece of legislation, was amended to the further detriment of accused. This was a misrepresentation to the US Government. Further, the Bangladesh Chief Justice misleadingly stated that interlocutory appeal lies with the Supreme Court, when there is no appeal except against conviction and sentence. There is no scope for challenging the judges, the Act, the Tribunal or any decision it issues. The Tribunal has adopted a rule that allows for review of its own decisions, the same judges being involved;
(5) Despite strong representations to act impartially and transparently, the Tribunal at the last hearing refused to give copies of written orders to the defence;
(6) At the last hearing the Tribunal in summing up the positions of the parties, made argument on behalf of the defence that were never made. This was clearly an attempt to bolster weak arguments by the prosecution;
(7) To date the prosecution has failed to disclose a single piece of paper. The Tribunal considers that the investigation is secret and therefore this is acceptable. This runs counter to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which BD is a State Party;
(8) The Tribunal has shown a complete disregard for complying with domestic and international law. If it considers itself a domestic criminal judicial organ then it should be required to comply with domestic law. If it considers itself to be an international body then it should comply with international law. At present it complies with neither;
(9) It has failed to properly define the crimes enumerated in section 3 of the Act;
(10) The authorities have taken 17 months since the Tribunal’s formation and the accused have been in custody for almost a year. However, once charged, it is likely the defence will be granted 3 weeks to prepare;
(11) The Tribunal judges, prosecutors and investigators lack experience and training in a very complex field of law. If it is suggested that they have been trained by the ICC this is untrue, as has been verified this with the ICC itself;
(12) The rules still fail to safeguard fundamental rights. The inclusion of a number of rights into the Rules will not change this. The fact that the First Constitutional Amendment removes any rights guaranteed under the Constitution is of primary concern. This point was raised by Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch. The Law Minister’s response was that “these men committed murder”;
(13) The Tribunal is only targeting members of the opposition parties;
(14) The legislation is discriminatory in intent as it explicitly only allows prosecution on one side of the conflict;
(15) The Tribunal does not have the appearance of impartiality as the judges meet frequently with members of the Government and victims groups;
(16) The censoring of the media prevents any proper public debate. Any criticism of the Tribunal or the Government results in the threat of contempt proceedings;
(17) There appears to be little desire to do this openly, fairly, transparently and in accordance with international norms. There is a total reluctance to have any international scrutiny of the preparations or the proceedings. The only way to ensure the process is fair is to (a) allow foreign counsel: (b) allow international monitors; and (c) amend the legislative framework in accordance with international standards with full respect for fundamental rights and due process.
(18) The allegations by S K Chowdhury that he was tortured by the RAB, on each of the three occasions when he has been brought to the Tribunal, have not been investigated.
(19) The statements made by the accused during their interrogations cannot be used in court and therefore the interrogations appear to have been pointless.
(20) As far as is known, there has been no response by the Foreign Minister or the Law Minister to the letter from Ambassador Rapp of March 21, 2011
Human rights in Bangladesh was the subject of a Lords debate in October of this year Bangladesh: Human Rights
Baroness Uddin made the following comment on the tribunal:
“I would add my voices to those, including my noble friend Lord Avebury, who are calling for an internationally recognised practice and procedure to be adopted by the International Crimes Tribunal. As someone who lived amidst the tragedy of the 1971 liberation war, I understand the deep-seated grievances of those who experienced and witnessed rape, pillage and death, and the desire and need of the victims of those atrocities in 1971 for justice and closure. So we must welcome some of the recent amendments to improve the procedures of the tribunal to ensure that the law and the trial process meet international fair trial standards. I can only imagine that the Bangladeshi Government would be interested in that.
Despite what has been said by some noble Lords, I should like to observe that there is significant independent coverage in the media of some of these issues, including disappearances and the deaths of journalists, as well as crossfire killings. We are not alone in raising these matters”.
An insight into the politics of Bangladesh can be seen from a newspaper interview that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave during her visit to London during the Olympics this year.BANGLADESH’S WARNING OVER POSSIBLE TERRORIST REFUGEE THREAT
She had earlier met Foreign Secretary William Hague and discussed the situation in the western Burmese state of Rakhine. Thousands of Rohingyas, whom the UN describes as a persecuted Islamic minority group in Buddhist Burma, have tried to flee to Bangaldesh, a secular country of 160 million mainly Muslims.
In her interview with the Sunday Express, she said she was concerned about the activities of Jamaat e Islami, an Islamic fundamentalist political party that has a powerbase near the border with Burma and which has previously been accused of terror links, allegations it denies.
She alleged: “Jamaat e Islami is very much involved in terrorist activity, there’s no doubt about it and everybody
knows that.
In the earlier referenced Lords debate, Lord Harris of Haringey noted:
“We have to recognise that political violence is not all on one side. There has perhaps been a trend in Bangladeshi politics for supporters of the ruling party-whichever one that might be-to feel that they are able to attack opposition supporters with a certain level of impunity. I think that comes from the broad powers that the law gives to the Government, which means that the Government of the day is, in effect, given control of the police as one of the spoils of victory.”
In such an environment, maintaining the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers is vital to the protection of human rights. We must therefore support Lord Avebury’s call for:
“….an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. The case for a retrial should be considered by the International Bar Association, and the government of Bangladesh should listen to their advice. And the UN Working Group on Disappearances should ask the government of Bangladesh for an invitation to visit the country and make inquiries about the disappearance of Ranjan Bali.”
Thanks to Mr Lord Avebury and nor merely a thank is enough for he deserves much more for speaking the truth and also to be dare enough to take the risk of being blamed by the so called bangladeshi humanitarians to be biased to Muslim fundamentalists. these so called fundamentalists thinks that they only know what humanity is and what human rights are as if they are the monopolists of intellectuality and human rights. They also think whosoever do not follow their ideology of life are the fundamentalists and if these people are muslims then it is very much ok for them to pot rate these muslims as being even not human being.
These so called humanitarians are in the throne of Bangladesh and shamelessly trying their hardest to eradicate their political opposition in the name of trial called International War Crime Tribunal. How shamelessly they are betraying their leaderSheikh Mujibur Rahman who even forgave the actual war criminals 195 pakistani army officers during the independence war of Bangladesh in 1971 although it was another political agenda of Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujib had just to listen to her. Then the question of collaboration comes and that was also solved by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Mujib cancelled birth-right citizenship of some prominent people including professor Gulam Azam because of exercising his political right differently on Pakistani side. But later on the basis of not a single allegation was proved true against him, the Supreme Court of the country re-established his citizenship. But now to the horror! these so called humanitarians by misusing their power brought the already solved issue to the surface only with an evil intention of getting rid their opposition because they don’t have any moral or ethical base to work with the mass people of the country and for their failure they blame the easy target Muslim leaders and subsequently they seek every avenue to wipe out this opposition. To fulfil their evil plot they brought the the solved issue forward in the name of war crime trial. This is not only an open disrespect but also a shameless crime on their part against the highest court of the country and more shamelessly against their leader Sheikh mujibur Rahman.
These so called humanitarian people in fact do not respect their grand leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. If they would, they would not brought the matter forward what was solved by that great leader. they call him father of the nation, but its their word of mouth to deceive, divert and deviate the mass people from the rich path and right thinking. actually they deceive themselves and they already are deviated whether or not they have sense to realise it. By saying Sheikh Mujibur rahman is the father of the nation without showing real respect to him they are making the people fool but they don’t know they are loosing ground under their feet because of their evil plot against the muslim leaders. They even don’t know they are fulfilling others agenda. The leakage of their 17 hours Skype conversation and exchange of 230 bitten the so called tribunal chair and a perpetrator from Belgium shows that these musk-worned people are not honest at all in their words, in their action in their thinking.
Lord Avebury very righteously wrote in his statement that the war criminals aught to be trailed,but why this so called tribunal is not following a single inter nation standard, why the whole process of the tribunal is full of clandestinity and gross irregularities what is now exposed to even a blind or a deaf and they were singing songs for it to be international fair tribunal and still now very shamelessly they are singing the same song. I don’t know the extent of their shamelessness. They are singing because they know in the regular and trustworthy way they can’t be successful to play their shameful game to eradicate the opposition.
This so called international war crime tribunal was totally a shameless eye washing process which the world might or might not knew about before the revelation of their Skype conspiracy and would not be taken it on board but it’s now
exposed to all. I think the world leaders including UN had enough knowledge about the kangaroo tribunal. but were not bothered because Bangladesh is a muslim country and more importantly those are accused in the name of war tribunal are muslim fundamentalists leaders. But are the fundamentalists not human being? Is there no human right for these people?
Lord Avebury very bravely brought this matter to the attention of UN. At least after the clandestine of the so called tribunal is exposed , any true human being, any true and decent leader like Lord Avebury can’t stay silent and the world leaders and the UN should now take it on board in order to maintain peace and order wherever it is threatened or challenged. If they still ignore it or rely to take necessary action in time it will once be proved again that the world leaders only show their leadership where there is an interest for their own nation and the UN is a dummy in their hand. I would like to remind them that if they ignore the issue and let the Bangladesh gov to their oppressive drama there, there is God above all and God will take revenge on every body as they are the silent partner of this injustice and oppression.
Thanks
Joe Bourke has summarized very well the concerns that people in the UK and US governments have about the political and justice systems in Bangladesh.
It is also very clear that the actions that the international community is recommending will need to be accepted by all sides in the political arena, because it is no good at all if changes that might be made by today’s government are simply reversed or ignored when a new government gets into power. It is not just the present government that is being asked to change its ways. In this very discussion on LDV, some contributors have clained that the violence perpetrated on one side is justified because the other side does it too. Those kinds of attitudes need to change.
So it is clearly not going to be effective for outsiders to impose their wishes on the Bangldeshi people. It is the Bangladeshi people who need to take charge of the processes of changing themselves and the ways they do politics and justice. The best that the international community is likely to be able to do is provide advice which will then need to be interpreted by Bangladeshis in ways that they believe is right for their country.
i strongly against with this tremendous unethical political practice what is going on in bangladesh. please stop these unethical practice.
Thank you so much for ur report. I’m totally agree with your opinion.we want justice.
Thanks again for your justice.
Good luck sir
I do understand the point of view of this article. war criminal must be punished severely under the international law. we do not believe current govt is really want to estublish rule of law in the country. so far they made the court 100% dependent on govt’s wish. Justice ministrer’s txt message to the judge is the final , rest are drama. there are many awami leaders are among the suspected was criminal. But are they facing trial? no. I do not support any of these political party as almost all of them are corrupt . i am in fobour of rule of law by any cost.
Many thanks Mr. Lord Avebury for raising your concerns about the process. As a ordinary citizen of Bangladesh, I wholeheartedly want those who committed crimes in 1971 to be brought to justice and I supported the Government’s initiative. But having read recent articles in the ‘Economist’ and listened to Skype conversations between the Chairman of the Tribunal and the Bangladeshi expatriate in Belgium, and even comments made by the government ministers recently, it is clear that the defendants are not going to get a fair justice. It appears that tribunal is established to implement the political will and agenda of the current Government, crush the opposition and persecute the people whoever they want to persecute.
One of the ministers Suronjit Sen Gupta only couple of days ago said that verdict has been written/fixed against 14 war criminals and they will be sentenced to death in 2013 (Source: Jugantor, Protom Alo, Amar Desh Bangladeshi newspaper).
We all know what happened to one of the witnessess( Sukhronjon Bali), who was kidnapped by the Government forces who wanted to give witness in Sayeede’s case.
There are many more reasons to doubt about the honesty and credibility of these two tribunals and their ability to run the proceedings without government’s interference.
May I request you to do everything you can to ensure a fair trial takes place in Bangladesh. We want a free and fair justice but not a controversial one.
Abdul Khalique
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=262926
That’s what jamat islam activists are doing to stop this trial.
Abdul Khalique,you told One of the ministers Suronjit Sen Gupta only couple of days ago said that verdict has been written/fixed against 14 war criminals and they will be sentenced to death in 2013 (Source: Jugantor, Protom Alo, Amar Desh Bangladeshi newspaper).
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=262861
Turkey President Gul said they came to know former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam is being tried at the International Crimes Tribunal. It is learnt that this 90-year-old leader might be sentenced to death. Some other elderly leaders are also facing trial, which is a matter of great concern.
If Turkey president can presume what going to happen then how come you expect a minister of BANGLADESH can not make any presumption about the judgment.Besides that all who have been arrested are self proclaimed war criminal.I can produce several evidence where you will find they were acting in favour of Pakistan army during 1971 as rajakar,al badar,al shams which militia groups were formed by JAMAT ISLAM and their studen wing ISLAMI CHATRA SONGHO(NOW CHATRA SHIBIR) and they were aider, abettor in GENOCIDE.In some extent they were principal offender of that mass genocide
even a child can presume what can be the punishment of genocide.
We all want justice and war criminals should all be punished. Doesn’t matter which side they are on. Let’s all hope for a fair trial and no one escapes justice. Too much corruption happening within the Bangladeshi government it’s embarrassing. Kidnapping and persecuting political opponents is cowardice.
Mr SK Nabi, you are being unreasonable. Don’t just keep on serving just awamileague, uphold justice and humanity .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZBZOG-3YDQ
please watch this full 12 series on our liberation war. specially in this part it is mentioned the name of GOLAM AZAM now arrested who were main leader of JAMAT and RAJAKAR,AL BADAR, AL SHAMS.
who deserve justice????????????????????????????????
VICTIME OF 71 or THOSE CRIMINALS??
whom you should cry for???
for victims of 71 or those criminals???
All Jamat activists are depending on false propaganda to save their criminal leaders.
Please LORD ERIC dont listen to them, they are liers, their leaders are criminal,
If you peoplev dont raise your voice ,where those victims will go???
For god sake dont listen to these criminals,they desreve punishment.and thanks almighty after 41 years it has been started.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=262926
Thats how all jamat activists are reacting.
Thanks Mr.Eric ,God bless you.that is completely illegal tribunal .
Leaked transcript
Meanwhile, this scribe has obtained a copy of the transcript of the latest Hasina-Clinton telephone conversations. Although the authenticity of the transcript could not be verified independently due to the US’s Access to Information statute barring disclosure of some information until the expiration of a specific time period, the disclosure has already become an ‘open-sourced material’ following its limited circulation via internet within Washington’s diplomatic corps.
Partial text of the leaked transcript reveals Secretary Clinton having said to Hasina, “Madame Prime Minister, I have been updated by Ambassador-at-Large Stephen Rapp about his visit to Dhaka . Honestly, at the request of New Delhi, we sent him there and tried our best to help you better organize the (war crime) trial. After listening from Ambassador Rapp and our Ambassador Moriarty, I felt obligated to inform you that both I and President Obama take the iss1ent. Bangladesh has to reform the whole process in a way so that it doesn’t become a conduit of punishing opposition.”
In response PM Hasina said, “Madame Secretary, I understand your concern and I already asked my Law Minister to take note of what Ambassador Rapp suggested. This is a trial we undertook with active support and assistance of New Delhi. I am sure Indian Ambassador in Washington DC will brief you further on that.”
Hasina-Clinton conversations contained a number of other sensitive matters which we decided not to publish for discretionary reasons. But one particular concern of the US Secretary of State deserves public attention.
Clinton said, “Madame Prime Minister, let me come to the core point for which I called you. As you have seen even Washington Post picked up your treatment to Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank. I thought it is about time to tell you how upset we are. I am personally upset because Dr.Yunus has been a family friend to the Clintons long before his wining of the Nobel Prize. President Clinton is equally upset. Hope you are aware how hard he worked to see Dr. Yunus get this award. I know people may have personal issues, but when it comes to national icon like Dr. Yunus, I thought Bangladesh shouldn’t demonize country’s only Nobel Laureate.”
In such an environment, maintaining the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers is vital to the protection of human rights. We must therefore support Lord Avebury’s call for:
“….an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. The case for a retrial should be considered by the International Bar Association, and the government of Bangladesh should listen to their advice. And the UN Working Group on Disappearances should ask the government of Bangladesh for an invitation to visit the country and make inquiries about the disappearance of Ranjan Bali.”
The “leaked transcript” of the Clinton-Hasina conversation apparently has Clinton referring to Obama as “President Clinton”. Can we believe that Hilary would make such mistake?
On the other hand, should we believe the Daily Star, which seems to have a rather different impression?
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=170278
Ranjan Bali, Ilias Ali, Mukaddas and all other disappearence need to be investigate. For the War crime tribunal Bali is the important one. But for whole Bangladesh all need to be done. Current Bangladesh goverment is doing Crime against humanity so there is a need of International judges and experienced persons. But Awamy League do not allow them.
Firstly, I am aware of the ongoing tribunal drama about so called ‘International Tribunal’ . Like every other Bangladeshi we all want war criminals free Bangladesh . But what is going on in Bangladesh is all about a dirty political game . This tribunal is completely politically motivated . Government and some of her followers taking revenge. That’s all. The present government named this tribunal – International crimes tribunal . But none of its law or standard is comply with international standard, not at all . Governments not giving pemison to any international lawyer in to this tribunal ! Government only traying opposion leaders but where there are war criminals in the rulling party itself . Witness been abduceted form the gate of the tribunal ! Judges taking all sort of help outside of law – Even sending key documents to out side and out sider giving direct order . This tribunal lost all of its creadibality . We want fair trial not political trial . This tribunal should be abolished immidieatly . For fair trial move those cases to icc . Very much concerned about those victim of this tribunal .
Lastly, it is very surprise to hear about current BD Govt that only 6 or 7 persons are war criminals. How about those in Awami League and the relatives of Sheikh Hasina.
They MUST BE IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT INTO TRIBUNAL. HASINA MUST STOP THIS USELESS DRAMA AND AND GIVE TRIAL TO ACTUAL WAR CRIMINALS. IN FACT THOSE 6 ARE INNOCENT. SO, FREE THEM IMMEDIATELY.
DO NOT BE INJUST TO INNOCENT PEOPLE.
SK Nabi – Your views need to be respected as you have as much right as any other to express your opinions. However, you must not confuse facts with ‘opinions’. There is also a need to be objective instead of sentimental and opinionated.
My family and I are victims of the crimes that were committed during 1970/1 in Bangladesh. The facts are clear – many people lost their lives, far more lost their dignity and loved ones. Some of the criminals are still alive and a few are involved in the current Bangladesh government – these are the facts.
The leaders of Jamat were against the splitting of Pakistan for their ideological reason. They did not support the independent war. I do not agree with their standing. However, having a political opinion or ideological standing, in my opinion, is not a crime.
As a victim of the war, I want justice more than Sheikh Hasina whose family was massacred by the Bangladeshi army as a result of injustice – not war crimes
Awami-League’s attempt to punish those who were opposed to the splitting of Pakistan will not bring me any justice. It will not bring justice to those who lost their loved ones or their dignity during the war. It will merely serve the political opponents and may help Hasina win the next election.
I want punishment for the real killers – the brutal murderers; those who took people’s dignity: the real war criminals. They are still around – some of them may be in Jamat, and others may be in other political parties.
If you have any evidence that the leaders of Jamat, who are currently being held on war crimes charges, were involved in the killing – I would like to know. I am sure people like me will be thankful to you. If there is no direct evidence then forget the rhetoric and learn to live in the real work. I am not interested in political and ideological disagreements. I am interested in ‘war crimes’.
Let us hope for real, true justice. Let us hope that the current corrupt government has the sense to stop tainting the judicial system as it has done in the ScapeGate saga. Let us hope that the true war criminals receive the desired punishment in this world. They will surely get that in the Hereafter!
Thank you for your valuable opinion Mr Evebury, and also thanks to everyone who has commented on this hot issue with their views.
In 1971 my father & my relatives were killed, and our shops were burnt by notorious Pakistani Army. I and my family is a victim of 1971 massacre like Mr A H Murshad. The present Tribunal is a politically motivated tribunal because those who are facing trial against humanity or allegedly did war crime they are against Awami League. They did politics in Bangladesh last 41 years. Once upon a time they were closely working with the ruling party. Now, they have been actively working with BNP led 18 Party alliance. If Jamaat had supported Awami League or they had become Muslim League, who would have raised this issue of war crime!
As a victim of war crime, my earnest request to the Govt. of Bangladesh is that please investigate properly the cases where Pak Army with the collaboration of razakars killed innocent people, raped and burnt houses and shops etc. In my birth place, Raniganj, Pakistani Army went for organising Peace Committee but actually their plan was not for peace. They killed nearly 150 people, looted and burnt shops. People were tied up by rope; before the killing they even did not allow them to perform their midday prayer. They lined up them by force, and then started firing with their machine gun.
I do not want to elaborate the cruel story here. My question is who were behind this atrocity like other places in Bangladesh, find them out. Find out the real war criminals. But the main 195 war criminals were pardoned, and released. And their collaborators hid in the main political parties. I have no idea how many razakars are still alive. One can find at least one razakar in every village I believe. They are not being targeted by the Govt. They are completely free from the trial of War Crime Tribunal.
Anyway, we want to see justice. Without free and fair trial it’s absolutely impossible to punish the real war criminals. If you candidly want to bring those real criminals to the court please send your investigation team to the places where Pakistani Army carried out their brutal operations, ask people who are genuine victims.
One must also be aware of the notorious Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee. Don’t want to go into too much detail, but they are basically people who spread propaganda against Jamaat leaders after the independence. Otherwise the likes of Ghulam Azam would not have been known.
It consists of leftist extremists, who managed to get intellectuals, journalists and artists together to campaign against Islam, Islamic parties and Islamist politicians. They basically painted the following picture: Islam= anti- independence+ Pakistan. They have played a great role in brainwashing the Bangladeshi public, although they themselves are a minority. But the tides are turning.
The general people of Bangladesh beleif that professor Golam Azam can not commite any activities surversive of humanity. This is completely political issue.
We the Peoples of Bangladesh want a fair retrial with International standard. Please tell to present Bangladesh Govt. to stop this tribunal drama .
Thank you mr.Eric Avebury, you are doing excellent work . Please note I don’t agree most of the things with mr. Richard dean, I think he doesn’t have any clue about Bangladesh. This goes for mr. Sk nabi , you are trying to convince every one with your propaganda we are not fools . Many thank every one for sharing your views!
Thank you very much Sir, for your writing. I hope BANGLADESHI people will read this & find out the truth.
Thanks Mr Lord Avebury for your analysis. I also support the process to find out the war crime issue but what is happening. The justice should not be colour by politics but the present govt has done this. This is the clear violation of constitution.
The Bangladeshi government is being blatantly biased against the members of the opposition political party. This is the same government of which the prime minister has served time in prison for her injustices while in power.
The process of convicting these individuals is unfair and therefore needs to be blocked. Otherwise justice will not prevail. Understandably these war crimes are a saddening part of Bangladeshi history, but unjustly condemning innocents is not the way forward
Thank you Mr. Avebury
You are right.
Thank you very much Lord Eric Avebury for talking about the most important issue of bangladesh ….when this government had started the tribunal we all young generation was very happy was waiting to see the punishment of real culprit of 1971 ….but what we see now ..is a politically motivated biased tribunal …no justice will come from this tribunal ..we want immediate shut down of this tribunal but we want to continue the process b y starting a fresh fair retrial with International standard ..thanks
Thank you Mr. Eric Avebury for your nice opinion. The bangladesh govt should listen to the outsider voice as they said that is an internationl tribunal. Even if they want for a fair trial they should refer this trail to ICC in Hage, Stwitzerland. And not make that tribunal a kangaroo court to set the readymade judgement.
Justice must be be done at any cost for the greater interest of whole humanity . We must not forget that Almighty is waiting to execute His Justice . We should learn from Human History . How Almighty punished the unjust people ?
how does the world just turn a blind eye and ignore this injustice done by a secular “democratic” government ??
but when the “islamists” amputate a hand of a theif in middle east the western forces are prepared to invade an entire country by the approval of the UN
Thank you for illuminating the situation with ur piece lord Avebury. It was an informative and important piece for the public of Bangladesh to read. I feel mr Richard dean with all due respect your opinions are biased and Ill informed. I think the public need to be able to make their on decisions on governments and not be coerced. The RAB are somewhat of an enforcing party for the government not allowing free think for the public.
thanks for your artical
Its not a International court. it is ‘Awami Court’. they just want to punish the Islamic leader’s who seem’s not supporting them any more. This is compeletly shameless double-standard. Hasina is not lawful to Bangladesh at all. She just want the power to rule this poorest country in the world to make money only.
Opposing the general trend that’s come about here to express gratitude towards Eric Avebury, I’ll have to thank Richard Dean for his continuous singular support towards having Bangladesh conduct its war crime tribunal without excess foreign intervention. I believe the countrywide uprising, which is taking place as I write, in favor of trying the war criminals of 1971 proves that the tribunal is neither an “Awami court” nor “politically motivated” – it is what 160 lakh Bangalees want.
These are tried and unveiled criminals of the atrocities of 1971. Survivors of the war who had first-hand experience of the crimes of Qader Mollah, Abul Kalam Azad, Sayedee, etc, are voicing the truth on national television.
It is frightening to see that supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Nationalist Party are flocking by the hundreds here to systematically make the same old comment. I think that goes to show who’s taking pains to publicize a lie. All these commenters who are disagreeing that the people charged by the ICT are not war criminals, fail to name anyone else who they think are the real criminals. So my question to the 400+ of you who have said the same thing over and over again, WHO DO YOU THINK ARE THE REAL WAR CRIMINALS OF 1971? Please, give us names – we demand proof of the gross allegations you are making!
No matter how many international organizations “criticize” and “show concern over” the legal proceedings in Bangladesh, there are LOCKERS OF EVIDENCE against the accused. You lot are faceless people regurgitating the anti-liberation pro-religious-politics sentiment that we are working so hard to eradicate from Bangladesh. For all we know, this could be one person commenting under a different name every minute.
The people’s uprising in Shahbag, Dhaka to Chittagong, Chandpur, Jhenaidah, Khulna, Barisal and every other country of the nation, clearly proves what real Bangalis want YES, BANGALIS. NOT BANGLADESHIS. ANY TRUE CITIZEN OF BANGLADESH WOULD CALL HIMSELF OR HERSELF A BANGALI, NOT A BANGLADESHI LIKE MOST OF YOU HAVE BEEN QUOTING.
UN experts have provided vague reasoning as to what they think has been so unfair in the ICT proceedings. The ICT hasn’t given enough time? So 41 years was not enough? Or did all your Jamaat-e leaders think 160 lakh Bangalis would just forget everything they did?
Jamaatis have been distorting the real demands of the nation for years through online media. It is worth noting that most countries either did not offer assistance or went against the Bangai’s struggle for independence. Even today, more criticism has been provided than assistance. News channels fail to even give the proper publicity to the nationwide demonstrations demanding speedy trials of the perpetrators of the massacre of 1971. So my ardent request to the outside world is this, do not be affected by such visibly manipulated proclamations. Instead take the time to look at what the people themselves are demanding through their own audible voices in Bangladesh today.
Thank you so much Mr Eric. This will help the world community to come up to support for rule of law and natural justice. Many many thanks to you Sir Mr Eric. I want draw kind attention of Mr Dean here that do you know the latest update of this ICT ( International Crimes Tribunal). The ICT has so far pronounced two judgments. The first convict is tried in absentia .For t he other convict ( Mr Kader Molla) the tribunal pronounced a sentence for life term against 5 counts of charges saying that these charges could not be proved beyound reasonable doubt. But the prosection is not satisfied with this judgement. The prosecution ( the Hasina govt) has passed a resolution to amend the provision of appeal to enhance the punishment that is the capital punishment ( Hanging). Can you please give me an example after the verdict came the law is amended to enhance the punishment? This is totally miscarriage of justice Sir! So before you comment anything first try to get the full information. And about the question of the judge to take advice i would like to put here yes a judge can take legal advice or opinion by appointing the amicus curie….he did not do this so he has violated his oath as a judge…so he already resigned but his action is now being followed by the incumbent judges…this is perverted judgement….we deeply condemn it…the justice is not been done at all.
Bangladesh Govt. doing completely wrong , they try to punished all innocent Islamist leadrer so far
Thank U very Mr. Eric
There should be an urgent investigation of this matter by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers & stop the tribunal.
Most of the powerful world leaders are now a days making the world uninhabitable for people. Less powerful country leader takes example from powerful world leader. This is not old but nowadays it starts after President Bush. No mater how many civilian died in that war of Afghanistan or Iraq. No mater how are the people of their leaving their life. There has no justice although the report goes against Bush. They can oriented their scenario however they wants.
Following the way of the powerful leaders conspiracy, leaders of small country starts the trend. And Sheikh Hasina is not out of them. She has no mercy. Why should she have it? She lost all of her family member except her sister for Bangladeshi.
The fact is all of the leaders are doing their wrong deeds by the name of justice or constitution or by the concern of the majority of the world leader or if small country like Bangladesh they take the concern of parliament members. As a result the civilians are getting the miss judgement from the leaders by the name of law.
> My question is where is law?
> Law is for whom?
> Isn’t it the failure of the judgement?
> Isn’t the system that helps to bring miss judgement are in power always?
> Isn’t it the failure of the system that the League of the Nation or so called justice of the world are demanding for?
> The leaders of the world are a great puppet and aren’t we watching the show?
Shame on not only Sheikh Hasina but also to the leader who failed to judge equally. They are using their brain or everything against mankind in the name of mankind.
I personally don’t like the system. No one should!!!!!!!
The ongoing so call war crime tribunal of Bangladesh is one of them.
This is so pathetic to believe that the judgement keeper of the world failed in Bangladesh. Or does they have any benefit of their own to keep the mouth of judgement shut down. Aren’t the world leader helping the future conspiracy by not establishing judgement?
I just finally want to say altogether with the anther of the quote:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-Martin Luther King, Jr”
And the world leaders are allowing this threat. Their glory is just a fake.