European rights and advocacy groups slam ICT verdict against Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA: Five European international organizations have denounced International Crimes Tribunal’s (ICT) judgement against Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demanded global action to stop what they describe “politically motivated” trials, the local media reported on Wednesday.

A coalition of rights and advocacy groups based in London released a joint statement, voicing “deep concern” over ICT’s recent judgement under Bangladesh’s interim government. The coalition has written letters to the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for human rights, Human Rights Watch, the European External Action Service, Amnesty International, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, the International Bar Association and several UN special rapporteurs, Bangladesh-based Dhaka Tribune reported.

In its joint statement, the coalition said the tribunal created to investigate atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War has “deviated from its core principles.” It slammed the recent trials held in absentia, saying such proceedings undermine judicial independence and breach international human rights standards.

The coalition expressed several concerns, including raising questions over inability of judiciary to function independently, constitutional legitimacy, rushed trials, absence of adequate legal representation, lack of defence witnesses and what it called as evidence of collusion.

The rights and advocacy group’s statement comes after Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday pronounced a death sentence for former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after it found her guilty on the charges of “crimes against humanity” related to the demonstrations in July of last year.

The ICT also convicted two of Hasina’s top aides, sentencing former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death and former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who turned state witness, to five years’ imprisonment.

Sheikh Hasina has denied the accusations that have been made against her in the ICT. She has alleged that the verdict announced against her came from a “rigged tribunal” set up and presided over by the unelected interim government led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus which lacks a democratic mandate, calling the ruling “biased” and “politically motivated.”  (IANS)

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