UNB, Dhaka :
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 will deliver the judgment on July 15 over the contempt-of-court case facing by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based global rights body, and its two officials, for publishing a ‘scandalous’ report on its judgment.
After hearing both sides on Sunday, the three-member
tribunal, headed by Justice M Enayetur Rahim, fixed the date. During the hearing, M Asaduzzaman, the counsel for the HRW, backed its impugned content over the ICT judgment that had sentenced Ghulam Azam, a retired ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, to 90 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
He prayed for letting his clients off the contempt charge as the HRW exercised its ‘freedom of expression’ over the ICT judgment.
After a month of pronouncement of the judgment, the HRW on August 16, 2013 released a report on its website, headlined ‘Bangladesh: Azam conviction based on flawed proceedings: Analysis outlines how fair trial rights of accused seriously compromised’.
The report claims that the trial of the former Jamaat-e-Islami boss was deeply flawed and it had not met the international standards.
It says: “The judges improperly conducted an investigation on behalf of the prosecution and expressed concern over collusion and bias among prosecutors and judges.”
The HRW also expressed concern over the “failure to take steps to protect defence witnesses,” and “lack of evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”
The report further claims that the defence lawyers were not aware of the “investigation” and were thus unable to comment on or challenge the evidence which was a serious violation of article-14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Bangladesh was a party.
