Nov. 26
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh Executions Over War Crimes Trigger Mixed Reactions
Sunday's executions in Bangladesh of two opposition leaders, accused of
committing crimes during the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan,
have sparked mixed reactions in the country and outside.
Bangladesh's International Crime Tribunal found Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, a
senior politician from the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party, guilty on
charges of conspiracy in abduction, torture and killing of intellectuals during
the war. ICT also convicted Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a leader of the
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on charges of torture, rape and
genocide.
Following the executions, the ruling Awami League (AL) party and some groups
supporting Bangladesh's war crime trials held victory rallies saying that
Mujahid and Chowdhury deserved to be hanged for their war crimes.
But JeI and BNP said the executions were politically motivated and aimed at
eliminating political rivals. Rights groups and legal experts charged that
Bangladesh executed the men after a flawed trial.
Pakistan decries executions
Since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up the ICT in 2010, it has convicted 24
people - mostly JeI leaders - of war crimes. Barring 2, all those convicted
were handed out death sentences by the tribunal. So far, 4 - including Mujahid
and Chowdhury - have been executed.
Protests against Sunday's executions came from different corners, including
Pakistan.
Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a statement saying the trials of the two men
were flawed, and that "Pakistan is deeply disturbed" by the executions. In a
sharp reaction, Bangladesh summoned Pakistan's high commissioner in Dhaka and
handed over a protest note.
Bangladesh's junior foreign minister, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, said Pakistan had
"no right" to make any comment on internal issues of Bangladesh.
"On the issue of these trials of war criminals, who committed crimes against
humanity, we shall not tolerate any negative comment from any country," Alam
said.
Victim's family welcomes punishment
Dr. Nuzhat Choudhury's father, an eye specialist, was killed by Al Badr militia
that Mujahid was convicted of leading during the war. Choudhury said after the
execution of Mujahid that she felt justice had been delivered.
"Mujahid was directly responsible for enlisting the names of top intellectuals
of the time, like my father, and abducting them from their homes, brutally
torturing them and subsequently murdering them. Therefore, in his trial and
execution, my family and I personally got justice today," Choudhury told VOA.
On Friday, the U.S. State Department said the executions of Mujahid and
Chowdhury should not take place until it was clear that the trial processes had
met international standards.
Tureen Afroz, an ICT prosecutor, denied the tribunal's actions were motivated
by politics.
"But if a trial is taking place in an independent judicial forum where a
defendant can freely exercise his internationally recognized rights, we call it
a fair trial. I would like to say that all trials of the ICT have been very
defense friendly," Afroz told VOA.
Trials have 'serious flaws,' some say
Earlier this month, Amnesty International noted that the trial and appeal
processes had suffered from "serious flaws."
"They were brought to the attention of the government by Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and other independent observers," said Abbas Faiz, senior
south Asia researcher of AI. "The government authorities who had the power to
stop the executions had full knowledge of these concerns. Yet, they went ahead
with the executions."
Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific regional director of the International Commission of
Jurists, said the human rights committee of the United Nations is very clear
that if a government wants to carry out a death penalty, it has to ensure that
the judicial process in the case has been absolutely fair.
"In the case of the International Crime Tribunal in Bangladesh, unfortunately
this hasn't been the case," Zarifi said to VOA. "We saw witnesses not being
allowed to testify, evidence that could exculpate the defendants not being
admitted on vague grounds."
Alex Carlile, a lawyer and member of Britain's House of Lords, said the trials
in the cases of Mujahid and Chowdhury fell "far, far short of acceptable
standards."
Pointing to the case that Bangladesh executed the 2 men just 3 or 4 hours after
their reported presidential clemency petitions had been rejected, Carlile said
Bangladesh resorted to unusual haste in carrying out the executions.
"I think the speed at which the executions took place is obscene," he said. "It
falls way outside any acceptable criminal justice policies. I think the
Bangladesh government has lost all respect among lawyers the world over."
(source: voanews.com)
*************
Bangladesh refutes UN claim on war crimes trial
Bangladesh has refuted the claim of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights that the trials of war criminals at the International Crimes
Tribunal were not fair.
Saying that the statement is "highly disturbing," the government has sent a
reply to the OHCHR and protested such claim.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release in this regard on
Thursday, 2 days after the UN rights body issued the statement involving war
crimes trial in the country.
On Tuesday, the UN human rights body renewed its call to the government of
Bangladesh to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty and
abolish it.
The statement came two days after BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were executed for crimes
against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
In a statement, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ravina Shamdasani said: "We've long warned given the doubts that have been
raised about the fairness of trials conducted before the Tribunal, the
government of Bangladesh should not implement death penalty sentences."
In reply, the foreign ministry press statement said: "Both the convicted
individuals have been handed down the death sentence by the ICT-BD for charges
proven against them beyond reasonable doubts. The verdicts were subsequently
upheld by the Appellate Division of Bangladesh Supreme after a full bench
hearing.
"On the judgment of the Supreme Court, the Review Petitions submitted by the
convicted persons have also been heard by the Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court on 18 November 2015, and subsequently disposed of.:
Bangladesh explained that the ICT-BD trials takes solely into consideration the
crimes committed by the individuals accused and convicted for crimes against
humanity they had committed in 1971, and has no preoccupation with their
present political status, reads the press release.
"Mr Chowdhury or Mr Mujahid's cases have nothing to do with their political
identity or affiliation, and the point that they belong to some opposition
political parties is only a coincidence as far as the trials are concerned."
"Moreover, certain accused and convicted individuals in the ICT-BD trials are
with ruling party and its electoral allies. In this regard, Bangladesh has
given a full account of the trials and proceedings related to the 2 cases of
Messers Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid," it added.
Bangladesh also reiterated that as a state party to the ICCPR, along with its
Optional Protocol, Bangladesh is obliged to maintain international standards in
its judicial process. The provisions of the International Crimes (Tribunals)
Act, 1973 (ICT Act 1973) and the rules made thereunder are not inconsistent
with the rights of the accused enshrined under article 14 of the ICCPR.
The Government recognises its responsibility towards its citizens and is
committed to fulfill its obligations to the citizens of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's response to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
emphasised that the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 (ICT Act 1973)
of Bangladesh was enacted by the Bangladesh Parliament which is vested with the
legislative powers of the Republic under the Constitution.
Read the Full Response of Bangladesh Government:
The ICT Act provides for the detention, prosecution and punishment of persons
for genocide, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law
and for matters connected therewith, stated the release. "Thus, the ICT Act
provides for the detention, prosecution and punishment of persons liable for
such crimes committed during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh from 25 March
to 16 December 1971."
The violations involved the indiscriminate killing of civilians, including
women and children; the attempt to exterminate or drive out of the country a
large part of population of approximately 10 million people; the dislocation
of, at any one stage or another, of nearly half of the country's population of
75 million people; the arrest, torture and killing without trial of suspects;
the raping of women; the destruction of villages and towns; and the looting of
property. In addition to criminal offences under domestic law, there is a
strong prima facie case that criminal offences were committed in international
law, namely war crimes and crimes against humanity and acts of genocide under
the Genocide Convention 1948.
Article VI of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide (1948 Genocide Convention) provides that persons charged with genocide
or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be tried by a
competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was
committed. The Convention also provides that (Article 6.2) in countries which
have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for
the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the
commission of the crime and not contrary to the provisions of the present
Covenant and to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide.
This penalty can only be carried out pursuant to a final judgement rendered by
a competent court. This clearly is the case, which has been maintained by the
Supreme Court in Bangladesh with regard two verdicts under discussion.
Article V of the Convention also provides that The Contracting Parties
undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the
necessary legislation to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of
genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III of the Convention.
It has been categorically found that the rights of defense and procedure given
in the ICT Act and the Rules of Procedure are manifestations of "due process of
law" and "fair trial" which make the legislation of 1973 more humane,
jurisprudentially sound and legally valid.
The International Bar Association (IBA) Committee, in a report has also opined
that "The 1973 Legislation together with the 2009 amending text, provides a
system which is broadly compatible with current international standard". This
opinion should alone suffice, as far as the minimum standard required by
international law is concerned.
Besides, the ICC Statute never denies the primacy of the national law. Article
10 of the Statute explicitly recognizes that "nothing in this part shall be
interpreted as limiting or prejudicing in any way existing or developing rules
of interpreted as limiting or prejudicing in any way existing or developing
rules of international law for the purpose other than this Statute".
In conclusion, Bangladesh mentioned that The ICT-BD trials have created an
opportunity for ending the culture of impunity, ensuring justice to the
victims, and paving the way for truth and reconciliation. This was duly
recognised by the European Parliament in its Resolution of16 January 2014 where
it posited, "... the International Crimes Tribunal has played an important role
in providing redress and closure for victims of and those affected by the
Bangladeshi war of independence."
Similarly, the European Parliament earlier also acknowledged the need for
reconciliation, justice and accountability for the crimes committed during the
1971 war of independence while stressing the important role of ICT in this
matter.
It is unfortunate that while the international community across the board has
embraced the trials as an effort to end the culture of impunity for mass
atrocity crimes committed over 4 decades ago, some selected quarters are still
resorting to sweeping, biased and unfounded comments about the trials as fed to
them by the agents and sympathisers of those accused and convicted.
The Government and the people of Bangladesh are confident that plausible legal
arguments can be provided for all the fabricated charges being leveled against
the trials, and that the fact that fair trial and due process standards had
been upheld through out the trial process, would ultimately prevail.
In view of the above, to any discerning observer, the position taken by the
OHCHR in the said press briefing note raises a question - whether the OHCHR is
siding with the perpetrators of war crime, genocide and crimes against
humanity. It is also a question if the OHCHR is choosing to undermine the cry
for justice of the families of innumerable victims; whether the impunity that
the majority of the people of Bangladesh want to see gone, is being upheld by
the OHCHR.
The present government of Bangladesh came to power with an overwhelming
majority who supported their declared manifesto of bringing an end to the
impunity so long enjoyed by the perpetrators of war crime, genocide and crimes
against humanity and no democratic government could ignore such a demand in
Bangladesh.
(source: dhakatribune.com)
***************
Man to die for killing wife for dowry
A court here yesterday sentenced a man to death for killing his wife for dowry
in Sadar upazila in 2000.
Judge Saiful Islam of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal
handed down the verdict.
The death penalty awardee is Bappi Mia, 37, son of Abdus Samad of Manik Chok
Hotilapur area in the upazila.
The Tribunal acquitted three charged sheeted accused as charges brought against
them could not be proved. They are Bappi's elder brother Papu Mia, Rani Begum,
wife of Bappi's brother Tutul Mia, and mother Arefa Begum.
According to the case statement, Bappi married Kohinoor Begum, 19, daughter of
Abul Hossain of Joypurpara in the upazila, in 1999.
On June 14, 2000, Bappi put pressure on Kohinoor to bring money from her
parents as dowry. As she refused to do so, Bappi beat her dead and dumped the
body in a nearby water body.
Police recovered Kohinoor's body the following day and sent it to Mohammad Ali
Hospital for autopsy.
Kohinoor's father filed a case with Bogra Sadar Police Station, accusing 4
identified and 2 unidentified people.
Sub-inspector (SI) Mojibur Rahman, investigation officer (IO) of the case,
submitted a charge sheet mentioning the names of the accused on November 10,
2000.
(source: The Daily Star)
SAUDI ARABIA:
Mothers of Saudi juveniles facing beheading appeal for mercy, as executions
loom----Local media in Saudi Arabia have reported that more than 50 people
detained will be executed over the coming days
The mothers of 5 juvenile prisoners facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia
have called for their children's convictions to be quashed, amid fears they may
about to be executed.
A joint statement released by the mothers on Tuesday described the potential
execution of their children as "unique in the history of Saudi justice".
"Saudi authorities have subjected our children to multiple forms of injustice,"
the statement said, with the mothers accusing the government of arbitrarily
detaining and torturing their children, as well as subjecting them to unfair
trials.
"We demand that the Saudi government drop their sentences and order their
re-trial. These trials must be public, in accordance with international
principles, and must be attended by neutral observers," they said.
Mohammed al-Shioukh, Abdullah al-Zaher, Ali al-Rebh, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Ali
al-Nimr have been sentenced to death. All of them were under 18 years old at
the time of their arrests in 2012, which were for taking part in
anti-government protests organised by the Shia community in the Eastern
Province.
Fears have risen that the 5 young Saudis will be imminetly beheaded after local
news outlet Okaz reported on Monday that 55 people convicted of
"anti-government offences" will be executed over the coming days.
Okaz did not reveal the names of those to be executed, nor did they reveal the
exact date of the potential executions, but they did say some of those to be
beheaded will be prisoners from the Eastern Province.
Anti-death penalty advocacy group Reprieve described the reports as "extremely
concerning".
"These reports are [...] suggesting the Saudis may be just days away from
executing people convicted when they were children, who were demanding
political reform in their country," Maya Foa, director of Reprieve's Death
Penalty Team, said in a statement.
"These executions must be stopped," she added.
Saudi Arabia's Shia community make up around 10 to 15 % of the kingdom's 29
million population. They are concentrated in the country's Eastern Province,
which is rich with oil but rife with poverty.
The Shia community have long complained that the government discriminate
against them, particularly in areas of employment and education.
In 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, protests erupted in the Eastern
Province, with the local Shia community pouring onto the streets to demand
increased representation and more rights in the kingdom.
The leader of those protests, firebrand cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was
arrested in July 2012 after a gun battle with authorities.
Nimr, the uncle of juvenile detainee Ali al-Nimr, is among those slated to be
executed for their role in the Eastern Province protests, which continue to
take place but have dramatically decreased in size since the 2012 crackdown.
Saudi authorities reject that Nimr led peaceful rights-based protests, and
instead allege that they faced - and continue to face - armed anti-government
gangs in the Eastern Province.
"The al-Nimr family members pursued violence and attacks on security forces and
government facilities beside terrorising civilians, hooliganism and vandalism,"
Saudi authorities recently said in a statement given to the Daily Telegraph.
"We have all the rights to maintain safety and security of our citizens and we
cannot understand the demands to make it go unpunished."
The mothers of the 5 young Saudis facing execution said on Wednesday that they
will not go quiet even if their children are beheaded.
"We [...] will only stay silent over this crime if they kill us alongside our
children," the statement said.
Saudi Arabia has executed at least 151 people so far in 2015, nearly doubling
last year's total of 88.
(source: middleeasteye.net)
**********
Concerns as reports suggest juvenile executions in Saudi may be days away
International human rights NGO Reprieve has raised concerns over Saudi media
reports, which suggest that juveniles Ali al Nimr and Dawoud al Marhoon could
be executed in days.
Saudi news outlet Okaz has today reported that 55 people convicted of
'anti-Government offences', are to be executed in the coming days. A number of
those are apparently from the same region as juveniles Ali al Nimr and Dawoud
al Marhoon, and Ali's Uncle, the high profile pro-democracy activist Sheik al
Nimr. The fears were compounded after the young men were taken for an announced
medical examination in the prison, which suggests their execution has been
scheduled.
The reports have raised concerns at human rights NGO Reprieve, which is
assisting the two juveniles, that their executions could be imminent, as well
as that of Abdallah al-Zaher, who was only 15 when he participated in protests.
Both Ali and Dawoud were convicted in part on trumped-up anti-Government
charges, despite their being youth activists who attended pro-democracy
protests.
Ali al Nimr and Dawoud al Marhoon were both sentenced to death when they were
under 18, for attending pro-democracy political protests. Both are understood
to have been held in solitary confinement in Riyadh.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has previously called on the Saudi
authorities to stop the planned execution of Ali al Nimr, and his government
cancelled a bid to provide services to the Saudi prisons because of human
rights concerns.
Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve's Death Penalty Team, said: \"These reports are
extremely concerning - suggesting that the Saudis may be just days away from
executing people convicted when they were children, who were demanding
political reform in their country. These executions must be stopped, and
Saudi's allies in the UK must once again make representations to prevent them
going ahead."
(source: reprieve.org)
IRAN----execution
Call to save death row prisoner aged 15 at time of alleged crime
Execution of 17 prisoners, including 6 young men aged 20 to 25, only 5 days
after UN condemns executions in Iran
The Iranian Resistance calls for measures to save the life of Mr. Salar Shadi
Zadi, a young prisoner on death row who was merely 15 at the time of his
alleged crime, and asks all international human rights dignitaries and
organizations to protest this barbarity and medieval viciousness, and to take
effective action to prevent the execution of this young man.
Salar Shadi Zadi is scheduled to be executed on November 28 after already
enduring 9 years behind bars. At least 72 prisoners under the age of 18 have
been executed under the mullahs' rule during the past decade, Amnesty
International reported.
The religious fascism ruling Iran, dubbed by the people as the "Godfather of
ISIS," has in the past 5 days alone executed at least 17 prisoners. This
follows the recent United Nations resolution condemning vicious human rights
violations in Iran and a UN call to stop executions in Iran. 6 of those
executed had only 20 to 25 years of age.
A 20-year-old man in the town of Mayamey in Semnan Province was hanged on
Wednesday, November 25. Despite calls made by international organizations a day
earlier, Alireza Shahi, aged 25, was executed along with 4 other individuals.
From the age of 18 he had been behind bars for 7 years.
3 prisoners hanged on November 21 in Zahedan Central Prison were all young men.
Mojtaba Lak-Zehi, 22, was aged 17 at the time of his alleged crime. He and
Hassan Dori Moghadam, 20, were both from Iran's Baluchi minority community.
Nazir Ahmad Rigi, 24, was an Afghan national.
Also on November 21, Mehdi Budineh was executed in Zabol Central Prison at the
age of 25.
The mullahs' regime is resorting to the execution of youths in public and in
prisons across the country in an attempt to cement a climate of fear across the
society and prevent massive uprising by the disgruntled population described by
regime officials as the "army of the hungry." The Iranian Resistance calls on
all Iranian people, especially the youth, to rise up and protest these crimes.
(source: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)
****************
Young Prisoner Hanged in Public in Northern Iran
A young prisoner charged with rape was hanged to death in public in Meyami,
Semnan. Iranian state-run media Javan News has identified the prisoner by the
initials A.M. and stated his age as "about 30 years old." Iranian offiials have
not released any more information about the case, making it unclear whether the
prisoner was over the age of 18 at the time of his arrest.
Commenting on the execution, Abbas Ali Akbari, the head of Meyami's Judiciary,
says: "The offender was arrested for committing several counts of rape and was
sentenced to lashings and death."
(source: Iran Human Rights)
ENGLAND:
Holloway prison closure will be mourned by few ---- Notorious Victorian
prison???s inmates have included Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst, Myra Hindley
and Ruth Ellis
The announcement that the site of Holloway prison is to be sold to become a
chic London housing address would have astounded generations of women
incarcerated there.
Despite repeated alteration and rebuilding in the 163 years since it opened, so
that barely a trace of the original architecture survives, Holloway was still
described in the most recent report by the prison inspectorate as having "a
fearsome reputation".
Its inmates have included the sisters Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst and other
suffragettes, many of whom suffered the pain and sometimes broken teeth of
repeated force-feeding to break their hunger strike. Many were freed from
Holloway when they became ill enough to embarrass the government, only to be
rearrested and locked up again under what was known as "the cat and mouse act".
The Moors murderer Myra Hindley fell in love with one of her prison officers in
Holloway. Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be executed in England, in
Holloway. She was hanged by the state executioner Albert Pierrepoint while a
crowd of 500 outside the gates chanted protests against the death penalty. Her
body was exhumed with those of other executed prisoners during rebuilding work
in the 1970s, and reburied in a churchyard in Buckinghamshire under the name
Ruth Hornby to protect the grave from ghoulish souvenir hunters.
A more aristocratic prisoner entered the high gates in 1940. Lady Diana Mitford
was often described as the most beautiful woman in England - "her beauty rang
through the room like a peal of bells", a smitten Evelyn Waugh wrote. She
became a friend of Adolf Hitler, who sent a chauffeur-driven Mercedes to take
her to the Olympic Games in Berlin, and she married the British fascist leader
Oswald Mosley at the home of the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, with
Hitler as a guest. Mosley was imprisoned in Brixton in 1940, and Mitford soon
afterwards in Holloway, which was then in a terrible state, its plumbing system
badly damaged by German bombing.
Mitford's treatment was far from that meted out to thousands of poor women
without grand connections. Winston Churchill personally ordered that she should
be allowed a daily bath, though in fact water was so scarce that she was
reduced to weekly bathing. Mitford ordered in supplies through her Harrods
account, and later - again at Churchill's intervention - Mosley was allowed to
join her to live in a small house within the prison walls, where they grew
aubergines and fraises du bois in the yard. When both were released in 1943,
20,000 people signed a petition in protest.
Like many other Victorian prisons that would acquire notoriety, Holloway was
constructed in an attempt to improve conditions for inmates held in overcrowded
buildings that had hardly changed since medieval times. In the 1850s Holloway
was still a pleasant semi-rural area, with market gardens and cottages. The
prison was originally for men and women, but in 1903 it became the largest
women's prison in the country.
Within a decade, the imprisonment of the suffragettes and the vivid accounts of
many, including Sylvia Pankhurst, of the torture of force feeding had made
Holloway infamous.
In the most recent report by the chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, he
wrote that although the rate of self-harm was falling, at 63 incidents a month
it was still high, as in many women's prisons, and that Holloway prisoners were
anxious and fearful about their safety. "This was not surprising," he wrote.
"Holloway has a fearsome reputation."
Although there will undoubtedly be protests if the site is sold for luxury
housing, few will mourn the death sentence for Holloway as a prison.
(source: The Guardian)
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