War Crimes Justice Process Begins Wali-ur Rahman ........................................................ Long long wait for the execution of what the Daily Star wrote “The butcher of Mirpur” Quader Molla has come after 42 years! He is personally responsible for the death of hundreds and thousands innocent men, women and children. Under his nose many scores of women were raped. The reaction of Pakistan is a testimony to the fact that he was one of the closest collaborator advisors to the Pakistani Military Junta in the broader schema for killing ,murdering and raping innocent men, women and children in cahoot with Forman Ali , the brain behind the killing of the intellectuals and professionals in and around Dhaka. I was surprised when the execution process suddenly halted at around 8pm on 10th December when the Hon’ble Chamber Judge stayed the execution and preferred to refer the prayer to the full Bench for Review. Without any prejudice on the decision of the learned Justice, I would like to jot down the history in brief behind the formulation of Articles 20, 21 and 22 of the International Crimes (Tribunals)Act July 20, 1973 . When I received the draft from Mr. Nasimuddin Ahmed , Joint Secretary, Law Ministry Dhaka, I interacted on the Geneva Convention ,1949 and the Additional Protocol with the President of International Committee of Red Cross , Monsieur Marcel Neville and Mr. lan Mcdormatt , Chairman of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva . Later on we consulted two learned prosecutors Prof. Hans Jesheck and Prof. Otto Von Triffterer, of the Max Planck Institute of International Criminal Law in Germany. This Think Tank and Research Centre established for the Nuremberg Tribunal played an important role subsequently in lending its hand to War Crimes Justice Process including the ICC Conference held in Rome in 1998. We discussed relevant laws on crimes of Genocide and crimes against humanity and the Nuremberg principles which were primarily based on the London Charter. They were pleased to note that this law would be the first law to try criminals who committed crimes of Genocide and crimes against humanity after the Nuremberg Tribunal. Both the prosecutors concurred that there cannot be any Review after the Appeal to the Supreme Court has been disposed of. Their argument was that these are crimes against humanity with universal jurisdiction without any time bar. They cited the example of Nuremberg Trial. After Nuremberg, Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal Act is the first such Tribunal. These two prosecutors assisted, Justice Jackson, the Chief Prosecutor of Nuremberg Trial. Finally they both agreed with us that once the Appeal has been disposed of there cannot be any Review which will be tantamount to the denial of justice for the heinous crimes committed. The Draft thus was despatched to the Committee sometime headed by Dr. Kamal Hossain and later by Mr. Monoranjan Dhar, the Law Minister for the kind perusal of the Committee. The Draft reads as follows (as in the International Crimes Tribunals Act, 1973): “20. (1) The judgement of a Tribunal as to the guilt or the innocence of any accused person shall give the reasons on which it is based. Provided that each member of the Tribunal shall be competent to deliver a judgment of his own. (2) Upon conviction of an accused person, the Tribunal shall award sentence of death or such other punishment proportionate to the gravity of the crime as appears to the tribunal to be just and proper. (3) The sentence awarded under this Act shall be carried out in accordance with the orders of the Government. 21. A person convicted of any crime specified in section 3 and sentenced by a Tribunal shall have the right of appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh against such conviction and sentence. Provided that such appeal may be preferred within sixty days of the date of order of conviction and sentence. 22. Subject to the provision of this Act, a Tribunal may regulate its own procedure.” It may be noted that in no other ongoing Tribunals ICC (the Hague), Cambodia , Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Arusha, Review is allowed after the Appeal has been disposed of. So Mr. Quader Molla’s Case has been a Test Case not only for Bangladesh but also for the whole World . The appellate division of Bangladesh has shown a rare example of its depth in jurisprudence, and comprehensive knowledge of International Crimes Tribunal Act, thereby disposing of the admissibility of the petition for Review by dismissing the petition . One human right activist Mr. Paulo Casaca, a lawyer, who served in the Portuguese Govt. for 12 years , was an MP in EU Parliament has visited many Tribunals. He has been lecturing on the necessity of punishment of those who committed such crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide all over the world. He was in Dhaka on 7th December 2013 to attend the International Conference on “GLOBAL IMPACT OF WAR CRIMES JUSTICE PROCESS IN BANGLADESH ” organized by the Bangladesh Heritage Foundation, National Security and Counter Terrorism. He also delivered the Human Rights Day Lecture on December 10, at the Liberation War Museum. He was surprised to hear that the Review petition was received . I however told him that our law does not permit such Review and thus I assured him if justice is to be done, the learned and Hon’ble Justices of the Supreme Court will take the right decision. Email: wali.heritage@gmail
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 08:48:19 +0000
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