Bangkok--26 Aug--UN
GENEVA – A group of United Nations human rights expertstoday urged the Government of Bangladesh to annul the death sentenceagainst a senior opposition member of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Mir QuasemAli, and to re-try him in compliance with international standards.
Mr. Ali was sentenced to death in 2014 by the Bangladesh InternationalCrimes Tribunal (ICT) for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971Bangladesh Independence War. The decision was confirmed by the AppellateDivision of the Supreme Court on 8 March 2016.
The ICT is a special domestic court with the jurisdiction to try and punishany person accused of committing atrocities, including genocide, war crimesand crimes against humanity in Bangladesh. It has sentenced 17 individualsto death for crimes committed during the Independence war. In the pastthree years, five of those convicted by the ICT have been executed.
"Mr. Ali's trial and appeal processes were reportedly marred withirregularities and failed to meet international standards on fair trial anddue process for the imposition of the death penalty," noted the UN expertson extrajudicial executions, independence of the judiciary, torture,arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.
"International law, accepted as binding by Bangladesh, provides thatcapital punishment may only be imposed following trials that comply withthe most stringent requirements of fair trial and due process, or could
otherwise be considered an arbitrary execution," they cautioned.
The experts' request comes as the Supreme Court prepares to review the caseon Wednesday 24 August.
The UN human rights experts have on several occasions expressed alarmregarding serious violations of fair trial and due process guarantees inthe judicial proceedings before the ICT that were reported to them.
"The death penalty is the most severe form of punishment," they stressed."In light of its irreversibility, every measure must be taken to ensurethat all the defendants before the International Crimes Tribunal, includingthe Appellate Division, have received a fair trial."
Moreover, the experts recalled that the Working Group on Arbitrary found in2012 that Mr. Ali's deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and in breach ofarticles 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. "We regret theGovernment's non-compliance with the expert group's recommendations toremedy the situation of Mr. Ali, and call upon the Bangladeshi authoritiesto respect their international obligations."
The UN human rights experts also expressed alarm at reports that Mr. Ali'sson and part of his legal defence team, Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, was abductedfrom his home on 9 August 2016 by Bangladeshi security forces, two weeksbefore his father review hearing.
"We understand that no information has been given on where he is beingheld, by whom or under what suspicion or charge. We urge the authorities toimmediately disclose the whereabouts of Mr. Quasem," they said.
(*) The experts: Ms. Agnes Callamard, new UN- Special Rapporteur onextrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Ms. Mónica Pinto, UNSpecial Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Mr. Juan E.Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment; Mr. Sètondji Roland Adjovi, currentchairperson of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and the UNWorking Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.