A group of United Nations human rights experts yesterday urged the government to annul the death sentence against convicted Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali and to re-try him in compliance with international standards. Ali was sentenced to death in 2014 by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for crimes against humanity committed during the War of Independence in 1971. The decision was confirmed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on March 8, 2016.  “Mr. Ali’s trial and appeal processes were reportedly marred with irregularities and failed to meet international standards on fair trial and due process for the imposition of the death penalty,” said a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva quoting experts on extrajudicial executions, independence of the judiciary, torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.
“International law, accepted as binding by Bangladesh, provides that capital punishment may only be imposed following trials that comply with the most stringent requirements of fair trial and due process, or could otherwise be considered an arbitrary execution,” it said. The experts’ request comes as the Supreme Court prepares to review the case today. When contacted, a senior foreign ministry official told The Independent yesterday that in the past when this type of appeal was made by any group of experts, Dhaka remained unmoved. “It’s like they say we listen,” he said. If the statement was issued by the High Commissioner or Spokesperson of the High Commissioner, we would have given a reply, he added. The UN human rights experts have, on several occasions, expressed alarm regarding serious violations of fair trial and due process guarantees in the judicial proceedings before the ICT that were reported to them.
“The death penalty is the most severe form of punishment,” said the release, adding, “In light of its irreversibility, every measure must be taken to ensure that all the defendants before the International Crimes Tribunal, including the Appellate Division, have received a fair trial.” “The UN human rights experts also expressed alarm at reports that Mr. Ali’s son and part of his legal defence team, Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, was abducted from his home on 9 August 2016 by Bangladeshi security forces, two weeks before his father review hearing,” it said. “We understand that no information has been given on where he is being held, by whom or under what suspicion or charge. We urge the authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Mr. Quasem,” said the release quoting the experts. The ICT is a special domestic court with the jurisdiction to try and punish any person accused of committing atrocities, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bangladesh. It has sentenced 17 individuals to death for crimes committed during the Independence war. In the past three years, five of those convicted by the ICT have been executed. The experts 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 and Sètondji Roland Adjovi, current chairperson of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.