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HRDB NEWSLETTER 

Two Bangladesh oppositionleaders have been executedfor war crimes committed

during the 1971 independ- ence struggle against Paki- stan.

 Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid andSalahuddin Quader Chowdhury,

were hanged in Dhaka's central jailon Nov 21, 2015, Saturday night. 

Bangladesh's Supreme Court onWednesday dismissed their finallegal appeals, upholding the lead-ers' death sentences originallyhanded down by a controversialwar crimes tribunal in 2013.

 

Chowdhury has been an influentialpolitician - he was elected MP sixtimes. Mujahid was a top leader ofBangladesh's largest Islamist party. 

Mujahid, 67, is the second mostsenior member of Bangladesh'slargest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-

Islami, while Chowdhury, 66, is anex-legislator and a top aide toKhaleda Zia, leader of the main opposition BangladeshNationalist Party. 

The pair are among more than a dozen leaders of the op-position alliance convicted by a tribunal set up by the sec-ular government in 2010. 

The cases of Mujahid and Chowdhury have beenmired in controversy.

 Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid’s appeal to the SupremeCourt failed to dismiss the prosecution’s claim that he hadinstigated his subordinates to commit human rights abus-es, when no subordinates had either been identified ortestified on record.

Chowdhury has maintained that hewas away in Karachi in April 1971when the offenses he was charged

with are said to have occurred. 

Chowdhury’s relatives, supporters

and others have sworn in affidavitsthey were with him in what wasthen known as West Pakistan in April 1971, but the tribunal ruledthe affidavits inadmissible. 

“Everyone is pushing for the exe-cution of these people. When youtalk to them and ask 'do you knowwhat the nature of these trials hasbeen?' they say, 'it doesn't matter,they have to be executed.' That isreally very, very strange,” said Ab-bas Faiz, the senior south Asiaresearcher of Amnesty Internation-al 

Tribunal is "flawed" and ameans of political retribution 

Bangladeshi Prime Minister SheikhHasina says the trials would bringclosure to the families of the vic-

tims. 

But do these trials serve that purpose? Or, are they –  as

some critics allege- used to settle scores with the PM

’s

political rivals? 

The ICT has a history of following some “extraordinarilyimproper procedure” and there were clear examples of its judgments having been written by people who had no con-nection with the tribunal, Carlile said. 

“There have been examples of lawyers being put underintolerable pressure. Make no mistake, to the juristsaround the world, and I speak as one of them, the waywhich the ICT trials have been conducted is offensive and

21 November 2015

Bangladesh hangedtwo top opposition

leaders 

following some“extraordinarily

improper procedure”

Be VocalAgainst

Judicial

Murder

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it puts Bangladesh in a very poor light,” said Alex Carlile, asenior British lawyer and a member of House of Lords.

Like previous controversial judgments delivered by the

ICT, Mr Mujahid and Mr Chowdhury’s trial and appealproceedings were marked by serious flaws in blatant vio-lation of fair trial rights. These include the failure of theICT judges to apply the proper legal principles, the arbi-trary restriction by the ICT judges of the number of de-fence witnesses and the appearance of bias on the partthe ICT against defendants. Almost all of the ICT’s ver-dicts have been handed down against members of oppo-sition parties, mainly key leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islamiparty, since its establishment in 2009. 

International rights groups and legal experts have alsocriticised the trial, saying it fell short of international stand-ards. 

The United States sharpened its criticism of Bangladesh'stribunal on war crimes after the death sentences were

upheld by the Supreme Court. 

Stephen Rapp, who until August served as PresidentBarack Obama's ambassador for war crimes, said it was"disturbing" that Chowdhury was denied the right to callalibi witnesses, including a former U.S. ambassador, toprovide testimony that he was not present in Bangladeshat the time the alleged crimes were committed. 

On Friday New York-based Human Rights Watch askedBangladesh to halt the "imminent executions" of Mujahidand Chowdhury, citing "serious fair trial concerns sur-rounding their convictions.

 

Human Rights Watch said the tribunal allowed the prose-cution to call 41 witnesses, while Chowdhury's defensewas limited to four witnesses. The New York-based groupsaid Mujahid was sentenced to death for instigating hissubordinates to commit abuses, although no subordinatestestified or were identified. 

U.S. lawmakers overseeing foreign policy described thetribunal as "very flawed" and a means of political retribu-tion. The State Department was less pointed, saying Fri-day that executions should not take place until it's clearthe trial process meets international standards. 

Leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a let-ter sent Tuesday to the top U.S. diplomat for South Asia,voiced concern that "democratic space is shrinking" inBangladesh amid "a growing climate of violence, fear andself -censorship." 

Jamaat called a nationwide strike on Thursday, declaringMujahid's original trial "farcical" and "aimed at eliminating"the party's leadership. 

Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party saythe trials ordered by the government are politically moti-vated. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leader of the AwamiLeague party, denies the allegations outright, saying jus-tice for victims families is long overdue.

 

Suggesting Bangladesh Grahame Lucas, Grahame Lu-cas, Head of the South East Asia Department/Asia Maga-zines, Deutsche Welle, writes: “Bangladesh's democracywould have fared better had it opted to go down the pathof reconciliation like the one chosen by South Africa in thepost Apartheid era under Nelson Mandela. A Truth Com-mission – if handled properly – could have done much toheal the deep wounds still festering in Bangladesh to thebenefit of civil society.” 

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh (HRDB) / email: humanrightsbd@gmail.com 

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh Newsletter #5-15  21 November 2015

 

It is deeply regrettable that Bangladesh govern- 

ment didn’ t pay heed to numerous concerns and

warnings by international community in order to

make the process of trial under “ International War

Crimes Tribunal (ICT)” fair. 

Instead Government has rushed to judgment and plan-

ning to execute one by one opposition leaders breaching

all international norms. This execution, in all likelihood,

will derail the democratic process in Bangladesh. 

International community has to take responsibility forwhat happening in Bangladesh. International community

should halt the consequences of what this event will

bring.

Bangladesh government should understand that that

their response to this is under the watchful eye of inter-

national community particularly International Criminal

court as Bangladesh is a state party to the Rome Stat-

ure. 

The ruling government has tarnished the image of the

nation before the world communities. They denied the

call and opinion of United Nations, United States, United

Kingdom, Turkey, Australia, and Malaysia and different

other forums and thus they are mulling to disconnect the

country from rest parts of the world. 

 All the Bangladeshis and the international com- 

munity should be vocal against this heinous con- 

spiracy of judicial murder of this government. 

Be Vocal Against Judicial Murder