Foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali addresses a media briefing convened at his office in the capital on Wednesday.
The International Criminal Court has rejected a case, which brought allegation of crimes against humanity against the Bangladesh government, as the court found no legal grounds for such accusation.
The Hague-based ICC’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, ‘has formally informed the government about the rejection of the case as their investigation found no legal basis of the accusations,’ foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali said at a press briefing in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The case was filed by Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami axis as part of their conspiracies to malign the government in the international arena, he said.
The case was filed in 2013 against prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 25 others on allegations which include torture, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executions and mass murder.
British lawyer Toby Cadman said he filed the request [with the ICC] on behalf of the International Coalition for Freedoms of Rights, the Associated Press reported in February, 2014.
Cadman has represented Jamaat-e-Islami in the past.
On a question regarding Bangladesh government’s position over Turkish president Erdogan’s reaction to the execution of war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali claimed there ‘is no problem’ in the bilateral relations with the West Asian country.
President Erdogan said his government called the country’s ambassador to Dhaka back to Turkey.
Foreign ministry claimed it was not ‘call back’ as Turkey did not notify the Bangladesh government in this regard.
‘They (Turkey) issued a statement. Yes, they did. What can we do?’ the minister said.
The Turkish ambassador informed in a letter that he would be on leave and another person will discharge responsibility of the acting ambassador, he said, adding, any country could ask its ambassador to report to headquarters for consultation which was normal in diplomacy.
Foreign minister Ali also said industries minister Amir Hossain Amu would represent the government at the swearing-in ceremony of India’s West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee set to be held on Friday.
Source: New Age
