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Bangladesh’s war crimes court has found journalist David Bergman guilty of contempt.
Published : 02 Dec 2014, 11:58 AM
International Crimes Tribunal-2 Chairman Obaidul Hasan ordered the British to stand in court for the whole day on Tuesday.
He was also fined Tk 5,000, failing to pay which will lead him to spend seven days in prison.
The judges ruled Bergman to stay away from writing on 'historically settled issue'.
The court said Bergman had tried to ‘challenge' the tribunal through the ‘irresponsible’ views he expressed about sub-judice matters in his blog.
Bergman is a contributing special correspondent with daily New Age. His lawyer wife Sara Hossain, daughter of Gono Forum chief Dr Kamal Hossain, was present in court during the verdict.
High Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad moved the court on Feb 19 seeking contempt proceedings against Bergman. Advocate Sayeed Mizan argued at the hearing on his plea.
Bergman published two blog pieces – ‘Azad Judgment Analysis-1, In Absentia Trial and Defence Inadequacy’ and ‘Azad Judgment Analysis-2, Tribunal Assumption' on Jan 28 last year.
The tribunal, formed to try war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War, had been 'maligned' by Bergman’s comments on the trial of fugitive Abul Kalam Azad aka Bacchu Razakar, according to the plea.
Bergman commented on the tribunal’s verdict even before it was delivered, lawyer Mizan said in court, adding that the journalist also made comments on sub-judice matters, which were "controversial and hurt the nation’s sentiments".
He was accused of contempt for comments on the trial of war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the plea added.
“The tribunal in its indictment of Delwar Hossain Sayedee said 3 million people were killed, 200,000 females raped and almost 10 million forced to flee to India during Bangladesh’s Liberation War,” advocate Mizan told bdnews24.com.
“But David Bergman wrote that the tribunal’s figures were baseless.”
The war crimes tribunal had given Bergman a stern telling-off regarding his comments on the indictment of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sayedee after those were published in an opinion piece on New Age in 2011.
