Bangladesh getting more involved with International Criminal Court: Foreign secretary

Bangladesh is getting more involved with the International Criminal Court or ICC over the 1971 genocide, killings of Bangabandhu and family members in 1975 and recent atrocities against Myanmar Rohingyas, the foreign secretary has said.

Md Shahidul Haque spoke to journalists after a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in Germany on Friday.

“Our ambassador is a member of different ICC committees. It’s a new area in which we are getting strongly involved. We didn’t have much involvement in the past,” he said.

The ICC recently launched an initial investigation to check whether it has the jurisdiction over Myanmar, which is not a member of the court, for the alleged deportation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas to Bangladesh.

ICC representatives will visit Bangladesh in the beginning of March to collect information on the Rohingyas, according to Shahidul.

“They (ICC prosecutors) have already started case proceedings to establish that the Rohingyas faced atrocities. As the first step to collect evidence, they will visit Bangladesh in the beginning of March,” he said.

Hasina informed Bensouda about the trial of the killers of the Father of the Nation and most other members of the family in the Aug 15, 1975 massacre.

Bensouda said she was aware of it and believed the killings should be tried, Shahidul said.

She also invited Hasina to visit the ICC while the prime minister invited the ICC prosecutor to Bangladesh, according to the secretary.

They discussed the genocide of innocent Bengalis during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.

Hasina’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim was also present during the briefing at the Sheraton hotel.

The prime minister travelled to Germany on Thursday to join the Munich Security Conference.