ICT appoints amicus curiae in Hasina's contempt of court case

The accused have not appeared before the court despite a notice published in the newspaper

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has appointed senior lawyer AY Moshiuzzaman as amicus curiae in the contempt of court case involving ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The three-member tribunal panel led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumdar issued the suo motu order on Thursday.

Earlier, on May 25, the tribunal had ordered the publication of a notice in newspapers summoning Hasina and former Chhatra League leader Shakil Alam Bulbul to face contempt of court charges.

Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim later informed the tribunal that neither of the accused had appeared within the stipulated seven-day period following the notice’s publication. Consequently, the tribunal appointed an amicus curiae in accordance with Rule 41 of the International Crimes Tribunal Rules of Procedure.

A complaint was filed against Hasina and Shakil, the former chief of the Gaibandha's Gobindaganj Upazila unit of the Chhatra League, on Apr 30 over statements linked to a July Uprising case.

The ICT had ordered the accused to file their response by May 15.

After they failed to comply, the tribunal ordered the accused to appear before it on May 25.

As they did not comply with this second directive either, the tribunal instructed its registrar to publish a public notice in two national newspapers.

An audio clip had gone viral on social media with a recording of someone saying, “There are 227 cases against me, so I have got a licence to kill 227 people.”

Later, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police carried out a forensic examination of the conversation and identified the speaker as Hasina, leading to a contempt of court case with the tribunal.