The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman has asserted that International Crimes Tribunal set up to try suspected war criminals of 1971 does meet the international standards.
Mizanur Rahman also urged the government to speed up the trial on Saturday and said, "We should be ashamed of the fact that the war criminals have not been tried even such long time after the Liberation War."
The NHRC chief said, "We have evidence to prove that Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami has assigned lobbyists in the US, UK and European Union to delay the trial process."
"And they are propagating in the mass media against the tribunal saying it does not conform to international standards."
He also criticised several foreign countries for doubting the tribunal's standards while speaking at the National Convention of the Sector Commanders' Forum at the Dhaka University ground.
Rahman said, "We are going to celebrate the 40th anniversary of independence. As a nation, we should be ashamed that we could not put those on trial who violated our mothers and sisters during the war."
"The killers of our brothers are still leading a normal life even though trial of some of them has begun."
He mentioned that the tribunal provided privileges to the accused more than any other tribunal in the world. "Placing a seven-point charter of demands before this tribunal, one accused has also threatened not to cooperate if his demands are not met. Nuremberg, Tokyo, Cambodia, Yugoslavia—was anyone there allowed to place demands like this?"
"This accused also questioned the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act. I will ask [chief prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipu and prosecutor Zead Al Malum] to deal with them in the toughest manner."
He told the gathering that the accused are objecting to the tribunal only for political gains.
Rahman said that International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides for fair and public trial much as the Bangladesh law. "Even the law minister has said that trial will be broadcast publicly on big screens outside the courtroom."
"According to our law, the tribunal can conclude a case with other evidence and witnesses if an accused refuses to cooperate. We know silence indicates consent, but instead, this law mentions other evidence and witness," he added.
Mizanur, who is a professor, also said, "Though they say it's not independent, the tribunal has taken their petition to remove the tribunal chief, sat to hear it and gave a decision. But it did not refuse to take the complaint into cognisance."
"The High Court has also heard their plea questioning the tribunal. Which court in the world has given more rights to the war criminals than this one?" he asked.
Jamaat-e-Islami executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee, who has been indicted on 20 counts of crimes against humanity including murder, rape, arson, genocide and loot during the war, appealed on Oct 27 that the tribunal chief Justice Nizamul Huq removes himself from the proceedings.
He is the first man facing a formal trial among the five Jamaat leaders and two others from main opposition BNP facing similar charges.
Apart from him, Jamaat leaders including its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla have been arrested on war crimes charges.
Senior BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim have also been arrested on similar charges.
Of the seven Jamaat and BNP leaders facing the war crimes charges, Alim is on conditional bail while the remaining six are behind bars.
Mizanur Rahman also urged the government to speed up the trial on Saturday and said, "We should be ashamed of the fact that the war criminals have not been tried even such long time after the Liberation War."
The NHRC chief said, "We have evidence to prove that Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami has assigned lobbyists in the US, UK and European Union to delay the trial process."
"And they are propagating in the mass media against the tribunal saying it does not conform to international standards."
He also criticised several foreign countries for doubting the tribunal's standards while speaking at the National Convention of the Sector Commanders' Forum at the Dhaka University ground.
Rahman said, "We are going to celebrate the 40th anniversary of independence. As a nation, we should be ashamed that we could not put those on trial who violated our mothers and sisters during the war."
"The killers of our brothers are still leading a normal life even though trial of some of them has begun."
He mentioned that the tribunal provided privileges to the accused more than any other tribunal in the world. "Placing a seven-point charter of demands before this tribunal, one accused has also threatened not to cooperate if his demands are not met. Nuremberg, Tokyo, Cambodia, Yugoslavia—was anyone there allowed to place demands like this?"
"This accused also questioned the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act. I will ask [chief prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipu and prosecutor Zead Al Malum] to deal with them in the toughest manner."
He told the gathering that the accused are objecting to the tribunal only for political gains.
Rahman said that International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides for fair and public trial much as the Bangladesh law. "Even the law minister has said that trial will be broadcast publicly on big screens outside the courtroom."
"According to our law, the tribunal can conclude a case with other evidence and witnesses if an accused refuses to cooperate. We know silence indicates consent, but instead, this law mentions other evidence and witness," he added.
Mizanur, who is a professor, also said, "Though they say it's not independent, the tribunal has taken their petition to remove the tribunal chief, sat to hear it and gave a decision. But it did not refuse to take the complaint into cognisance."
"The High Court has also heard their plea questioning the tribunal. Which court in the world has given more rights to the war criminals than this one?" he asked.
Jamaat-e-Islami executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee, who has been indicted on 20 counts of crimes against humanity including murder, rape, arson, genocide and loot during the war, appealed on Oct 27 that the tribunal chief Justice Nizamul Huq removes himself from the proceedings.
He is the first man facing a formal trial among the five Jamaat leaders and two others from main opposition BNP facing similar charges.
Apart from him, Jamaat leaders including its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla have been arrested on war crimes charges.
Senior BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim have also been arrested on similar charges.
Of the seven Jamaat and BNP leaders facing the war crimes charges, Alim is on conditional bail while the remaining six are behind bars.
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