The International War Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has cautioned Human Rights Watch (HRW) while resolving a rule against the US-based rights body that faces contempt charges.
Published : 04 Sep 2014, 02:15 PM
The ICT-1 headed by Justice Enayetur Rahim pronounced the verdict over the ruling on Thursday.
The prosecution brought contempt charges against the HRW on Aug 20 last year, after it questioned the trial process of Jamaat-e-Islami guru and war-crimes convict Ghulam Azam.
In a statement, the group’s Asia Director Brad Adams had said, “The government has got the conviction it wanted, but it has failed to ensure a fair trial that settles once and for all whether Ghulam Azam was guilty.”
The tribunal lacked evidence to convict the former Jamaat-e-Islami chief, it had alleged.
Adams, Asia associate Storm Tiv and HRW’s board of directors were asked to explain why they questioned the trial, the role of the judges and damaged the court’s image.
US Ambassador Dan Mozena had expressed concern about the legal action against HRW while asserting that it was a 'very respected organisation.'
ICT-1 sentenced the 91-year-old Azam to 90 years in prison on Jul 15 after he was found guilty of committing all five categories of crime -- conspiracy, planning, incitement, complicity (abetment) and murder - during the 1971 Liberation War.
Judges said they spared him a death sentence considering his age and physical condition.
Reacting to the HRW statement, ICT prosecutors Tureen Afroz, Sultan Mahmud Simon and Tapas Kanti Bal said the ‘baseless’ statement was aimed at ‘eroding people’s confidence in the tribunal’.
The rights group, they said, had taken similar stands in several other countries including Afghanistan and Iraq.