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
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
Bangladesh | A War Crimes Court and a Travesty of Justice [New York Times]
Tom Felix Joehnk wrote on The New York Times | 08 December 2011
DHAKA, Bangladesh — On the fourth floor of a nondescript pale-blue government building in Old Dhaka, clerks are stapling together copies of depositions from witnesses to the crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of secession from Pakistan — a conflict that may have killed up to three million people, according to the Bangladeshi government. Above them on the wall is a map showing the 11 sectors of what was then called East Pakistan.
 |
| Maulana Delwar Hossain Saydee is accused politically and victim of the War Crime Court |
Strdel/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDelwar Hossain Sayedee, a leading cleric of Bangladesh's Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, at the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka in November.
The poisonous politics of Bangladesh : Reversion to type [The Economist]
Bangladesh’s economy is becoming ever healthier; its politics are heading in the opposite direction |Aug 13th 2011 | Economist Link
THE election of December 2008 seemed to mark a watershed for Bangladesh. In the fairest poll in the country’s four-decade history, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina (pictured), swept to power in a landslide, on a wave of national optimism. The hope was that she would use her party’s popularity to strengthen democratic institutions and pursue national reconciliation, putting an end to a vicious cycle of winner-takes-all politics between the League and its rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The fear was that she would use its huge mandate for partisan advantage.
Bangladesh : Politics of Hate [The Economist]
An ancient vendetta continues to eat away at public life | Nov 18th 2010 | Economist Link
Another BNP evictionMORE than two years after the army aborted a dismal interregnum and released from jail the leaders of the country’s two rival political dynasties, the politics of hate and attrition grind away in Bangladesh. The thanks go mainly to the personal vendetta of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, one of the two leaders, against the other, Khaleda Zia.
On November 13th Mrs Zia was evicted from her home of nearly 30 years in Dhaka’s cantonment area. The move triggered a hartal, a protest strike called by Mrs Zia’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Violence broke out between her supporters and those of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL). The country’s third political force, the army, has backed the High Court’s eviction order. Shrewdly, Sheikh Hasina has allocated the vast plot surrounding Mrs Zia’s home for housing for the families of 57 military officers killed in a mutiny early last year, soon after the AL swept to power.
The eviction is part of the League’s mission to break the BNP’s back. It is obsessed with airbrushing from history the legacy of the political dynasty founded by Mrs Zia’s late husband, General Ziaur Rahman, hero of Bangladesh’s war of independence against West Pakistan in 1971.
In the name of the father [The Economist]
An obsession with Bangladesh’s past may explain its prime minister’s growing intolerance | Aug 13th 2011 | Economist Link
ASK well-connected Bangladeshis which country they dream of emulating and they usually name one of two big Asian democracies: populous and largely Muslim Indonesia, for its moderation, growing wealth and stability; or India, for its job-creating, increasingly urban economy. Wretched Pakistan is dismissed with the scorn of a divorcee rejecting her abusive ex.
Compared with Pakistan, from which Bangladesh split bloodily 40 years ago this December, life does indeed look better. The country is stable: few of Bangladesh’s 160m-odd citizens are Muslim fundamentalists. The economy, with annual output of around $100 billion, grows by nearly 7% a year and is fuelled by the world’s third-largest clothes-export industry. Aid money gushes in, and good things are done against poverty. And, since two years of army-backed rule ended in 2008, the generals have been tucked up securely in barracks.
All this should leave the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina—whom civil servants are said to address as “sir”—feeling confident. Her Awami League romped to an electoral win in December 2008. Her popularity has since dipped, but not disastrously. Nearly half the respondents to an AC-Nielsen survey in January, the most recent one, thought her government did a good job. Few backed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which spurns parliament, calls public strikes and is remembered for the brutality and corruption of its rule in 2001-06.
India and Bangladesh : Embraceable you [The Economist]
Growing geopolitical interests push India to seek better relations nearer home
Jul 30th 2011 | DHAKA |
NOT much noticed by outsiders, long-troubled ties between two neighbours sharing a long border have taken a substantial lurch for the better. Ever since 2008, when the Awami League, helped by bags of Indian cash and advice, triumphed in general elections in Bangladesh, relations with India have blossomed. To Indian delight, Bangladesh has cracked down on extremists with ties to Pakistan or India’s home-grown terrorist group, the Indian Mujahideen, as well as on vociferous Islamist (and anti-Indian) politicians in the country. India feels that bit safer.
Now the dynasts who rule each country are cementing political ties. On July 25th Sonia Gandhi (pictured, above) swept into Dhaka, the capital, for the first time. Sharing a sofa with Sheikh Hasina (left), the prime minister (and old family friend), the head of India’s ruling Congress Party heaped praise on her host, notably for helping the poor. A beaming Sheikh Hasina reciprocated with a golden gong, a post-humous award for Mrs Gandhi’s mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. In 1971 she sent India’s army to help Bangladeshis, led by Sheikh Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, throw off brutal Pakistani rule.
As a result, officials this week chirped that relations are now “very excellent”. They should get better yet. India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, will visit early in September to sign deals on sensitive matters like sharing rivers, sending electricity over the border, settling disputed patches of territory on the 4,095km (2,500-mile) frontier and stopping India’s trigger-happy border guards from murdering migrants and cow-smugglers. Mr Singh may also deal with the topic of trade which, smuggling aside, heavily favours India, to Bangladeshi ire.
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