Dhaka, Sep 16 (IANS): Bangladesh’s Awami League categorically rejected the death sentences handed down to seven party leaders and activists by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), describing the ruling as “one-sided, biased and fabricated”.
The remarks came after the ICT on Tuesday sentenced Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and six other senior leaders of the party and its affiliated organisations to death for “crimes against humanity” linked to the July 2024 mass uprising, local media reported.
The Awami League alleged that the “so-called verdict” marked the latest “weaponisation of judiciary” to exterminate political dissenters.
Highlighting that none of the individuals against whom the verdict was pronounced was present before the tribunal, it said, “A fundamental standard of international criminal law is that even in trials conducted in absentia, minimum legal protections — including the right of the accused to choose counsel of their own liking — must be guaranteed. However, these guarantees have been completely ignored in the present tribunal.”
According to the party, the whole judicial process has been rushed through, displaying “utter disregard” for the fundamental and universally recognised principles of international human rights law and international criminal law, thereby promoting a “culture of impunity and political vengeance” rather than the rule of law.
It stated that not only the latest verdict, but all ICT activities since August 5, 2024, constitute a gross violation of international law and human rights.
Slamming the former Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, the party said the “undemocratic and unconstitutional” interim regime, in complete violation of the law and constitutional process, amended the International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973 through ordinance, transforming the entire legal process into a retaliatory “judicial killing scheme” directed against Awami League leaders.
“To exact political vengeance, the illegal government of Mohammad Yunus constituted the prosecution and judicial panels comprising office-bearers and active cadres of Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), filing a succession of false and illegal cases against leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Awami League based entirely on falsehood,” it added.
Expressing grave concern, the party said the death sentences would further fuel the two-year-long cycle of mass killings that has already claimed hundreds of lives, while exacerbating arbitrary detentions that have seen tens of thousands imprisoned.
It further accused the Bangladeshi authorities of carrying out the “ongoing killing spree” in custody and other ruthless measures under the pretext of a “farce trial” over the violence and deaths linked to July-August 2024 demonstrations.
“This latest sham verdict is another blow to the country’s democracy, a glaring reminder for citizens and victims of July August violence that their right to pursue justice has been completely taken away. On the ground, residences and businesses of tens of thousands of activists have been looted and vandalised with total impunity also,” said the Awami League.
“The wholesale purge in the judiciary before the start of the trial, the constant mob violence on lawyers and physical attacks on victims of ongoing witch hunt inside court premises are glaring testament to this sham trial,” it added.
Alleging that the ICT has alarmingly emboldened Islamist extremists, the party said that hundreds of convicted, dreaded militants in Bangladesh, including those affiliated with the terror group Al Qaeda, were granted bail, and that they have already reduced the country to a “dangerous place on earth”.
