Picking on the Sanctity of Opposition Ladies – Bangladesh Government’s Latest Streak
Picking on the Sanctity of Opposition Ladies – Bangladesh Government's Latest Streak
Economist Reports on War Crime Tribunal
Bangladesh: Discrepancy in Dhaka | The Economist http://econ.st/WPSyDe
Bangladesh: Discrepancy in Dhaka—a brief update | The Economist http://econ.st/Z9BNIA
Trying war crimes in Bangladesh: The trial of the birth of a nation | The Economist http://econ.st/XU1H2K .
Bangladesh: Discrepancy in Dhaka—a brief update | The Economist http://econ.st/Z9BNIA
Trying war crimes in Bangladesh: The trial of the birth of a nation | The Economist http://econ.st/XU1H2K .
Human Rights Watch is concerned about Bangladesh War Crime Tribunal
Defense lawyers in war crimes trial arrive at #Bangladesh court with witness. Police grab and “disappear” him http://bit.ly/ZCSry2
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/11/13/bangladesh-investigate-alleged-abduction-war-crimes-witness
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/11/13/bangladesh-investigate-alleged-abduction-war-crimes-witness
Bangladesh : Ever murkier [The Economist]
main link : http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/11/bangladesh
Nov 19th 2012, 15:26 by T.F.J.
Mr Bali was snatched as the defence team and its witness arrived at the tribunal on November 5th. They were ordered from their car and told to identify themselves. Hasanul Banna Sohag, a defence lawyer, says one of four men, who claimed to be from the police Detective Branch, "snatched [Mr] Bali from my hand" and forced him inside a white police van, which then drove off.
The witness was to have spoken in the case of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the prosecution's strongest. Mr Sayedee is one of seven leading figures of Jamaat-e-Islami (Bangladesh's biggest Islamic party) who is on trial. He is charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, murder, religious persecution and 16 other counts. He pleads not guilty. Mr Bali was originally a prosecution witness but he never appeared in court to testify to what he is alleged to have told investigating officers that he saw: the killing of his brother on the orders of Mr Sayedee in 1971.
Instead, says a defence lawyer, Mr Bali was going to tell the court that Pakistani army officers killed his brother and Mr Sayedee was not involved. It is not the only allegation of forced testimony: Tajul Islam, a defence lawyer, asserts that the prosecution has adopted a deliberate strategy of not producing witnesses so that their written rather oral testimony in court can be allowed as evidence. "They abducted him because this government plans to hang Mr Sayedee", claims Mr Islam. On November 14th the prosecution called for the defendant to receive the death sentence.
One might have expected that elected political figures, who have been the driving force behind the trial, would now be determined to show that the legal process is not becoming a travesty. Yet the official response to a daylight abduction of a witness is hard to fathom. The tribunal meekly asked the prosecution to "look into the matter", which found that the story of an abduction had been fabricated. The police refused to file a complaint. On November 11th, Bangladesh's attorney-general testified before the High Court on a writ habeas corpus that the abduction claim had been fabricated by the defence to bring the tribunal into disrepute.
None of this brings confidence that the trial is being conducted to the highest standards. Even observers who have long insisted that there is merit in the process now see a rush to get the trial finished. The goal may be to wrap up before a general election that is expected in a little over a year. An indication of this is the tribunal's decision to limit the number of defence witnesses. In Mr Sayedee's case 28 of 46 witnesses were not allowed to give testimony. The court limited the number of witnesses to 12 in the case of Ghulam Azam—the head of the Jamaat in 1971, who is accused of having created pro-Pakistan death squads. Such squads carried out many killings and rapes during the nine-month war that pitted Bengali-dominated East Pakistan against West Pakistan.
The trial was always going to be awkward, and the defence's tactics, for example submitting a list of 2,000 defence witnesses in the case of Mr Azam, have not always helped. The greatest problem, however, is that the main perpetrators, former Western Pakistani officers, are not in the courtroom but in Pakistan. This month Bangladesh demanded an apology from Pakistan for war crimes committed by its army, but as usual Pakistan's government refused. Perhaps as a result, Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has spurned an invitation to visit Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.
(Photo credit: AFP)
Investigate Alleged Abduction of War Crimes Witness on HRW website
#Bangladesh: Investigate Alleged Abduction of War Crimes Witness @hrw #HumanRights #Change
….
Eric Avebury speaks out on abduction of defence witness Shukho Ranjan Bali
http://ericavebury.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bangladesh-international-crimes.html
iReport on CNN : A country where gun shot protestors cant go to Hospital
iReport on CNN : A country where gun shot protestors cant go to Hospital
Saudi Gazette :: Stop the witch hunt against Ghulam Azam
main link: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20120430123031
A flawed trial process results in the miscarriage of justice. But if a trial itself is based on a biased motive and contrived charges, then the result is injustice.
Injustice indeed has been done to Bangladesh's nonagenarian political figure Professor Ghulam Azam, who was arrested in January this year and has been kept in solitary confinement ever since.
The former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh has been unjustly accused of crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 independence struggle. He is awaiting trial by the International Crimes Tribunal, whose legality and scope have been questioned by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Council, and US Ambassador for War Crimes Stephen Rapp.
Ironically, the court which was set up to try Prof. Azam for crimes against humanity has not even defined what "crimes against humanity" means. Stephen Rapp during his third visit to Bangladesh last November raised this issue. He also called for the participation of foreign counsel, which he said, was very important to ensure that uniform or generally agreed standards are observed.
Laurel Fletcher, clinical professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, said, "Such trials run the risk of turning into political show trials, where laws are bent to produce predetermined results."
The Tribunal, which remained defunct for 40 years, was revived in March 2010. But its character is still undetermined. At present, it lacks international character because of the lack of a number of legal provisions.
The case against Prof. Azam smacks of a vendetta. He is facing charges on 62 counts. If convicted he faces execution by hanging. The three-judge Tribunal earlier this month deferred to May 2 its decision as to whether it will frame charges against him.
Prof. Azam, who supported the unity of West and East Pakistan and opposed a military solution to political problems, denies any wrongdoing.
The trial is politically motivated because no one has been tried for war crimes committed by pro-independence forces and for the massacre of Biharis.
Prof. Azam, too old and infirm to appear in court, has been denied bail. Members of his family are not allowed to meet him on a regular basis. He has no access to books.
He is being treated like a convicted hardcore terrorist even though he has yet to be charged with any crime.
Bangladesh is a signatory to a number of international human rights conventions, including the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, and the world expects it to uphold the ideals of these accords
A flawed trial process results in the miscarriage of justice. But if a trial itself is based on a biased motive and contrived charges, then the result is injustice.
Injustice indeed has been done to Bangladesh's nonagenarian political figure Professor Ghulam Azam, who was arrested in January this year and has been kept in solitary confinement ever since.
The former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh has been unjustly accused of crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 independence struggle. He is awaiting trial by the International Crimes Tribunal, whose legality and scope have been questioned by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights Council, and US Ambassador for War Crimes Stephen Rapp.
Ironically, the court which was set up to try Prof. Azam for crimes against humanity has not even defined what "crimes against humanity" means. Stephen Rapp during his third visit to Bangladesh last November raised this issue. He also called for the participation of foreign counsel, which he said, was very important to ensure that uniform or generally agreed standards are observed.
Laurel Fletcher, clinical professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, said, "Such trials run the risk of turning into political show trials, where laws are bent to produce predetermined results."
The Tribunal, which remained defunct for 40 years, was revived in March 2010. But its character is still undetermined. At present, it lacks international character because of the lack of a number of legal provisions.
The case against Prof. Azam smacks of a vendetta. He is facing charges on 62 counts. If convicted he faces execution by hanging. The three-judge Tribunal earlier this month deferred to May 2 its decision as to whether it will frame charges against him.
Prof. Azam, who supported the unity of West and East Pakistan and opposed a military solution to political problems, denies any wrongdoing.
The trial is politically motivated because no one has been tried for war crimes committed by pro-independence forces and for the massacre of Biharis.
Prof. Azam, too old and infirm to appear in court, has been denied bail. Members of his family are not allowed to meet him on a regular basis. He has no access to books.
He is being treated like a convicted hardcore terrorist even though he has yet to be charged with any crime.
Bangladesh is a signatory to a number of international human rights conventions, including the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, and the world expects it to uphold the ideals of these accords
Death Toll Rises in Bangladesh Protests :: Wall Street Journal
WSJ Link : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577363702379420674.html
DHAKA—The disappearance of a leading opposition figure in Bangladesh
has plunged the poor South Asian nation into a political crisis and
threatens efforts to turn around its global image as a "basket case," as
former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once famously put it.
At least five people were killed and scores injured in the protests. Above, a scene in Dhaka on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party called supporters into the streets for the third
straight day of strikes to protest the disappearance last week of Ilyas
Ali, a party member from the northeastern city of Sylhet.
The Guardian : Bangladesh police out in force as tension rises over missing politician
Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, claimed Ilias Ali may be hiding on the orders of his own party. Photograph: Faisal Al-Tamimi/AFP/Getty Images
Police in Bangladesh used baton charges, live bullets and teargason Sunday in clashes with demonstrators protesting against the alleged abduction of a senior politician. The violence was the most acute for many months in the unstable state.
In Dhaka, the capital, dozens of small devices were reported to have exploded and 20 arrests were made. In the north-eastern city of Sylhet, 12 people were reported to have been injured and more than 50 detained in running battles. On Sunday night a tense calm had been established, although tens of thousands of security personnel remained deployed across the country in anticipation of further clashes on Monday.
The crisis was sparked by the disappearance last Tuesday of Ilias Ali, a key organiser with the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP). Ali was the latest in a series of political activists who have apparently been abducted, raising fears of a concerted campaign of intimidation aimed at opposition politicians. At least 22 people have gone missing so far this year, the local human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra said. In 2011, the number was 51. Estimates of the exact number vary though all indicate a rising overall total.
Many local and international campaigners have blamed security forces, accusing the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and local police of eliminating opposition figures to benefit the administration of Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister.
Spokesmen from the Rab have denied the charge, saying that many of those found dead or who have disappeared were involved in crime and killed by associates or rivals. The director of the Rab's legal wing, Commander Mohammed Sohail, said an operation had been launched to recover Ali and a search was continuing.
Speaking in Dhaka last week, Hasina suggested Ali might have been "hiding somewhere" on the orders of his party. Ministers described his disappearance as "sad" and "unexpected".
Police officials contacted by the Guardian refused to comment on the case.
Ali's wife, Tahsina Rushdir, said her husband, a veteran activist who had risen through the ranks of the BNP, had been campaigning for the party in Sylhet before he disappeared. "He told me that the government was making a list of people who were being critical about them. He wouldn't be picked up this way unless he had posed a threat to the government," she said. "The waiting is very difficult."
More than 30 people were injured in clashes between opposition activists and the police on the streets of Dhaka last week following the news that Ali was missing.
Tensions in the south Asian state, home to 160 million people, have been building for months. Runaway inflation, rising inequality and recent corruption charges against some ministers have all combined to undermine the popularity of the government, in power since winning a landslide victory in 2008.
Politics in Bangladesh, which won independence from Pakistan after a bloody conflict in 1971, has been marked for decades by the personal rivalry of Sheikh Hasina, head of the Bangladesh Awami League, and Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP. This has not however prevented economic growth rates that are among south Asia's highest and some significant improvements in areas such as education. But governance and the rule of law remain weak. Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of Bangladeshi human rights group Odhikar, said the disappearances were "a result of the impunity granted to the law enforcement [agencies] for the last 41 years". Dr Iftekhar Uz-Zaman, executive director of the Bangladesh chapter of Berlin-based Transparency International, blamed "growing partisan political influence" that was eroding "the capacity of the state to promote rule of law, justice, equality and basic human rights of the people".
Among the recent missing are three student leaders from the BNP. The body of a trade union organiser, apparently tortured, was found after he disappeared on 4 April. Two opposition activists, both members of an Islamic student organisation, disappeared in February.
Shafiq Ahmed, minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, said that a full investigation was under way to locate all those who have disappeared, and that allegations that the government could be responsible in any way for abductions were motivated by "an interest to gain public attention".
The minister also rejected criticism of the government's economic record. "The economy [in Bangladesh] is better than many countries in the face of global economic depression," he said.
The Rab has received training from British police, the Guardian revealed in 2010. Details of the programme appeared in a number of cables released by WikiLeaks. The Rab is believed to be responsible for up to 1,000 extrajudicial killings since being formed eight years ago.
In its 2012 annual report Human Rights Watch said ministers have denied that such incidents occur, even when the government's own investigations found evidence of wrongdoing.
Police 'beat up' blindfolded JCD men : Torture on Opposition
main link: http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=2&id=223022&hb=4
Subir Roy
bdnews24.com Correspondent
Khulna, Apr 22 (bdnews24.com) – Police have allegedly beaten up two activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal after blindfolding them and hanging one of them from the ceiling.
A committee has been formed to investigate the incident that took place at Khulna Sadar Police Station on Sunday afternoon, assistant commissioner of Khulna police Mosharraf Hossain told bdnews24.com.
The one-member panel is headed by deputy commissioner Haider Ali.
The two victims, Mahmud-ul-Haque Tito and Ferdaus-ur-Rahman Munna, were detained in the morning on charges of attacking police with petrol bombs in Tutpara area.
BNP, of which JCD is the student wing, has demanded trial of the police personnel involved in the incident and threatened to stage protests if the demand is not met in 24 hours.
Some journalists rushed to the police station on hearing about the incident and also snapped pictures, party's city unit chief and MP Nazrul Islam Manju told bdnews24.com.
Officer in-charge S M Qamruzzaman, along with some sub-inspectors and constables, hung Tito from the ceiling and beat him up with sticks, Manju said. Munna was also beaten, he added.
The OC, however, denied the reports of beating and said they were only blindfolded and threatened.
"The allegation of beating after hanging is false," he said.
The duo has admitted to the misdeed, Qamruzzaman said.
According to him, SI Shah Alam filed a case naming Munna, Tito and nine others and 150 unidentified people charging them with bombing, hindering government duty and causing injuries to police personnel.
bdnews24.com/corr/ost/nir/2345h
Subir Roy
bdnews24.com Correspondent
Khulna, Apr 22 (bdnews24.com) – Police have allegedly beaten up two activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal after blindfolding them and hanging one of them from the ceiling.
A committee has been formed to investigate the incident that took place at Khulna Sadar Police Station on Sunday afternoon, assistant commissioner of Khulna police Mosharraf Hossain told bdnews24.com.
The one-member panel is headed by deputy commissioner Haider Ali.
The two victims, Mahmud-ul-Haque Tito and Ferdaus-ur-Rahman Munna, were detained in the morning on charges of attacking police with petrol bombs in Tutpara area.
BNP, of which JCD is the student wing, has demanded trial of the police personnel involved in the incident and threatened to stage protests if the demand is not met in 24 hours.
Some journalists rushed to the police station on hearing about the incident and also snapped pictures, party's city unit chief and MP Nazrul Islam Manju told bdnews24.com.
Officer in-charge S M Qamruzzaman, along with some sub-inspectors and constables, hung Tito from the ceiling and beat him up with sticks, Manju said. Munna was also beaten, he added.
The OC, however, denied the reports of beating and said they were only blindfolded and threatened.
"The allegation of beating after hanging is false," he said.
The duo has admitted to the misdeed, Qamruzzaman said.
According to him, SI Shah Alam filed a case naming Munna, Tito and nine others and 150 unidentified people charging them with bombing, hindering government duty and causing injuries to police personnel.
bdnews24.com/corr/ost/nir/2345h
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)