UNB, Dhaka :
A group of United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday urged the government of Bangladesh to annul the death sentence against war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali.
They also urged the government to ‘re-try’ him in compliance with international standards, according to a message received here from
Geneva. The experts’ request comes as the Supreme Court prepares to review the case on Wednesday. On April 28, 2013, former Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told Parliament that Quasem, chief of Chittagong Al-Badr, an infamous auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, had allegedly paid $25 million to an American lobby firm to carry out a smear campaign to make the war crimes trial controversial.
The UN experts who advocated for the war criminals are Agnes Callamard, new UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mónica Pinto, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Sètondji Roland Adjovi, current chairperson of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
War criminal Quasem was sentenced to death in 2014 by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Independence War.
The decision was confirmed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on March 8, 2016.
The ICT is a court with the jurisdiction to try and punish any person accused of committing atrocities, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bangladesh, the statement read.
A group of United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday urged the government of Bangladesh to annul the death sentence against war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali.
They also urged the government to ‘re-try’ him in compliance with international standards, according to a message received here from
Geneva. The experts’ request comes as the Supreme Court prepares to review the case on Wednesday. On April 28, 2013, former Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told Parliament that Quasem, chief of Chittagong Al-Badr, an infamous auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, had allegedly paid $25 million to an American lobby firm to carry out a smear campaign to make the war crimes trial controversial.
The UN experts who advocated for the war criminals are Agnes Callamard, new UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mónica Pinto, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Sètondji Roland Adjovi, current chairperson of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
War criminal Quasem was sentenced to death in 2014 by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Independence War.
The decision was confirmed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on March 8, 2016.
The ICT is a court with the jurisdiction to try and punish any person accused of committing atrocities, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bangladesh, the statement read.
