David Bergman faces another contempt of court

Journalist David Bergman has been accused of being in contempt of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for making ‘adverse comments’ about the court on his blog.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 19 Feb 2014, 03:01 PM
Updated : 19 Feb 2014, 05:01 PM

The ICT-2 chaired by Justice Obaidul Hasan has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.

Lawyer Mizan Syed submitted a plea to the tribunal’s registrar on behalf of High Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad on Tuesday afternoon.

Bergman, widely criticised for his stance by pro-judgment activists, told bdnews24.com he could not comment on the accusations since he had not been provided a copy of the lawyer’s application.

He, however, said, “Whilst my blog does contain critical comments of some of the tribunal's orders, the comments are measured, and fair - even though others may disagree with them.”

He cited an Appellate Division decision in his defence, which read: "A fair criticism of judicial proceedings or courts is no doubt permissible so as to enable the court to look inward into the correctness of the proceedings and the legality of the order…"

Bergman had been given a stern telling-off by the ICT following his comments on the indictment of Jamaat-e-Islami leader and now war crimes convict Delwar Hossain Sayedee after those were published in an opinion piece on English daily New Age in 2011.

“The tribunal in its indictment of Delwar Hossain Sayedee said 30 lakh people were killed, 2 lakh raped and almost 1 crore were forcibly deported during Bangladesh’s Liberation War,” lawyer Syed told bdnews24.com.

“But David Bergman wrote that the tribunal’s figures were baseless.”

“The piece published on Oct 11, 2011 is still visible on his blog. He disagrees with the information provided in the tribunal’s order.”

“So as regular citizens we brought the matter to judicial notice to request necessary action.”

Bergman had also criticised in his blog the death verdict awarded to fugitive former Jamaat activist Abul Kamal Azad for crimes against humanity on Jan 28, 2013.

Bergman’s ‘A Crucial Period for ICT’ was published on Oct 2, 2011. The following day, Bergman, the reporter, New Age’s Editor Nurul Kabir and publisher ASM Shahidullah Khan were show caused for contempt of court.

The tribunal at the end of hearing had issued the highest-level warning to Bergman on Feb 19, 2012 and mentioned that the reporter was in contempt of court but was being let off in consideration of his image in society.

Bergman, a British, is a special reports editor for New Age. He is married to Sara Hossain, the daughter of Dr Kamal Hossain, who played a vital role in drafting Bangladesh’s Constitution.