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United Nations statement about war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh

BD War crime trial

 

The execution in Bangladesh on Sunday of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid brings to four the number of people hanged following convictions by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal. Mujahid, leader of Jamat-e-Islami and Chowdhury, of the Bangladesh National Party, were sentenced to death by the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal on charges of war crimes and genocide. The Supreme Court rejected their appeals on 18 November 2015. 

Since its inception in 2010, the Tribunal has delivered 17 verdicts, of which 15 have resulted in the imposition of the death penalty against members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh National Party. All those who were convicted were accused of committing crimes against humanity, genocide and other international crimes in 1971. 

We have long warned that, given the doubts that have been raised about the fairness of trials conducted before the Tribunal, the Government of Bangladesh should not implement death penalty sentences. Similar concerns were expressed by UN human rights experts who, on several occasions, called on the Government to halt the executions, as the trials did not meet international standards of fair trial and due process as stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a party.
The UN opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, even for the most serious international crimes. We renew our call on the Government of Bangladesh to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty and abolish this inhuman practice altogether.

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