A petition was filed Tuesday with the International Crimes Tribunal seeking contempt proceedings against Human Rights Watch for its report on the verdict on former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam’s war crimes case.
On Friday, the New York-based rights body claimed that the trial of Ghulam Azam at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 was “deeply flawed” and “it had not met the international standards”.
It also said the “judges improperly conducted an investigation on behalf of the prosecution” and expressed concern over “collusion and bias among prosecutors and judges”.
HRW also expressed concern over the “failure to take steps to protect defence witnesses”, and “lack of evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt”.
A seven-member delegation of prosecution of the tribunal submitted the petition to the registrar office of the International Crimes Tribunal around 2:30pm Tuesday.
In the petition, the prosecution urged the International Crimes Tribunal-1 to initiate the proceedings against Brad Adams, Asia director at the HRW; Storm Tiv, its associate for the Asia Division; and its board of directors.
Prosecutor Tureen Afroz, who was among the delegation members, said if proved, the accused will have to serve one year in jail or Tk 5,000 fine or both.
After the publication of the HRW report, Tureen had told The Daily Star that the case against Ghulam Azam was now pending with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The statement of HRW at this stage was tantamount to contempt of court.
On July 15, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Ghulam Azam to 90 years’ in jail after finding him guilty in all five charges of crimes against humanity and genocide against him.
Ghulam Azam has appealed challenging the verdict while the state has also appealed against “inadequate” sentencing of Ghulam Azam.
Source: The Daily Star
