The United Nations has urged Bangladesh to halt the execution of war criminal Mohammad Kamaruzzaman. Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani made the appeal at a press briefing in Geneva on Thursday. She said the trial of Kamaruzzaman in an International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh was “reportedly rife with irregularities and did not meet international fair trial standards.” “The UN Human Rights Office has long warned that, given serious concerns about the fairness of trials conducted before the Tribunal, the Government of Bangladesh should not implement death penalty sentences,” she added. According to a statement from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) the tribunal had delivered 16 verdicts and 14 death penalty sentences to members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP since its inception in 2010. “All those who were convicted were accused of committing crimes against humanity, genocide and other international crimes in 1971,” the statement said. It mentioned that one of the convicts, Abdul Quader Molla, was executed in 2013. The tribunal sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Kamaruzzman to death on May 9, 2013 on two charges, including the killing of 120 men and raping of women in Sohaghpur Village at Sherpur’s Nalitabarhi during the Liberation War against Pakistan on Jul 25, 1971. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence on Nov 3, 2014 and rejected his review plea on Monday, clearing the path to execute him. About the review plea hearing, Shamdasani said the Supreme Court ‘did not hear the application on its merits and rejected his petition summarily’. She reminded that Bangladesh has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stresses: “in cases of trials leading to the imposition of the death penalty, scrupulous respect of the guarantees of fair trial is particularly important.” Referring to the convent, the OHCHR spokesperson said any death penalty imposed after an unfair trial would be a violation of the right to life. “The UN opposes the use of the death penalty, even in cases where stringent fair trial standards appear to have been met and even for the most serious international crimes,” she said. She concluded the speech urging Bangladesh to impose a moratorium on the death penalty and join the growing number of States that have abolished this ‘inhuman practice’. Before the execution of Quader Molla, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay had sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to postpone the execution. Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP and several western human rights organisations have been questioning the standard of the war crimes trial. The government refuses the allegation saying Bangladesh is giving the convicts the chance to appeal unlike many other countries. It also mentioned execution of 12 Nazi war criminals, convicted at in Nuremberg for their atrocities during the World War II.–Source : bdnews24.com
