Category Archives: Project Overview

30 December 2012: Tribunal 1 Proceedings Daily Summary

3 Items were scheduled for hearing: (for detailed summary visit here)

  1. Chief Prosecutor vs. Delwar Hossain Sayeedee –  for hearing application: Defense application for retrial
  2. Chief Prosecutor vs. Motiur Rahman Nizami – for hearing application and PW: Defense application for retrial
  3. Chief Prosecutor vs. Golam Azam – for hearing applications and Prosecution argument

Submissions by the Defense
Mizanul Islam, on behalf of the Defense, completed arguments for re-trial in the  of Chief Prosecutor vs. Delwar Hossain Sayedee. He alleged that the draft copy of the Indictment order was generated by Ahmed Ziauddin on October 02, 2011 and the Tribunal passed the order on October 03, 2011 – therefore showing that there was inadequate time for them to substantially alter the draft to reflect their independent opinion. The chairman noted that he remembered drafting the Charge Framing Order with the former tribunal Judge Zaheer but did not know whether the former chairman sent it to anyone else. However, the Defense countered that it was clear that the Charge Framing Order as passed directly followed the instructions of Dr. Ziauddin. As the Charge Framing Order was therefore not the work and opinion of a judge, the Defense argued that it must be recalled.

After submitting arguments in the Sayedee case, Mr. Islam began arguments on behalf of Motiur Rahman Nizami because Bangladesh Bar Council Vice Chairman Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, who is expected to make a submission on behalf of Nizami, was not present at the Tribunal before lunch. The Defense stated that they would not repeat themselves and that the points made in the Sayeedee case also applied to the Nizami and Golam Azam cases. He reiterated that the Nizami and Golam Azam Charge Framing Orders were also drafted by Dr. Ziauddin and therefore were not a proper judicial opinion. Mr. Islam gave his assent to allowing the Attorney General Mahbubey Alam to respond given and rescheduling Khandakar Mahbub Hossain for Monday morning.

Submissions on behalf of the Prosecution
After the submissions from the Defense, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam requested that the Tribunal dismiss the petition for re-trial. He submitted that the Defense relied on the illegally obtained evidence and that the contents of skype and email conversations between the former Chairman Nizamul Hoque and the Brussels based lawyer Dr. Ziauddin were inadmissible as the products of hacking. He argued that such documents cannot be considered by the Tribunal on three grounds: 1) The Constitutional prohibition contained in Article 43 which protects every citizen’s right to the privacy of his correspondence and other means of communication; 2) Prohibitions contained in the Information and Communication Act 2006 criminalizing hacking; 3) The order passed by ICT-2 prohibiting publication of the skype and email communications between the former chairman and Dr. Ziauddin. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam further argued that the procedural rules of the Tribunal permitted the former Chairman’s actions. Referring to §11(1)(d) of the ICT Act 1973, which provides that “the tribunal shall have the power to appoint persons for carrying out any task designated by the tribunal,” and under  §11(6) which provides that the “Chairman of a Tribunal may make such administrative arrangements as he considers necessary for the performance of the functions of the Tribunal under this Act,” the Attorney General argued that the former Chairman Nizamul Huq was within his legal capacity in communicating with Dr. Ziauddine as these communications were part of an administrative arrangement considered necessary for the performance of the functions of the Tribunal. He additionally argued that the Defense’s submissions were obstructionist and counter to §19(1) of the ICT Act which states that the Tribunal “shall adopt and apply to the greatest possible extent expeditious and non-technical procedure.”

Court Atmosphere
Tension continued in the court and verbal altercations between the defense and prosecution increased. The Judges requested the prosecution to maintain decorum so that the Defense would follow suit.

Trial Coverage Begins

The War Crimes Studies Center has been in the process of establishing a research and observation project covering the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka. Our goal is to provide factual and objective coverage of the ongoing trial proceedings. The tribunal currently does not have an official website or spokesperson, and current accurate information regarding the trials is difficult to access. We hope that this blog can fill this gap and provide useful information to the diplomatic community, academics, those working in the field of international criminal law, victims and other interested parties.

Over the past two months WCSC has worked to establish the logistical framework for our project. In order to introduce ourselves and explain our goals we have been meeting with court officials, the prosecution and defense teams, journalists and other civil society members as well as conducting legal research regarding both international and Bangladeshi legal practice. Additionally, we have hired a team of local Bangladeshi lawyers to conduct daily observation and translation of the proceedings.

Unfortunately we have faced a number of obstacles that have slowed our progress and delayed the launch of our daily reporting. The recruitment process for our local team was carried out cautiously and thoroughly as it is of the utmost importance that our team be able to neutrally assess the proceedings and accurately translate from Bangla into English. Additionally, our recruitment process has been prolonged by court requirements that our researchers go through an extensive background security check. This process took three weeks for one researcher and was still ongoing for another when the candidate decided that, due to concerns about prejudice to his future career, he could not continue to work with us. This meant that we had to again begin the recruitment process for a local Bangladeshi lawyer. We continue to work with the court and are now waiting for the approval of our second candidate. While we understand the the security concerns we regret the long duration of the background check and the intimidating impact that it potentially has on qualified candidates selected by our organization.

An additional factor in the delay of our publications has been our restricted access to official court documents. The tribunal has thus far declined to provide us with certified copies of court orders, including the charge framing orders (indictments). They have cited the ICT Act of 1973, stating that there is no specific provision in the act entitling 3rd parties to request and obtain certified copies of documents. We have been directed to obtain these documents instead from  the Prosecution, Defense or from journalists. Despite our urging that our neutrality and objectivity is dependent on our access to official documents the court thus far has not been willing to rethink its position. Therefore, we have had to use additional time to obtain necessary documents and to verify their accuracy.

Despite these obstacles we have been attending proceedings and preparing materials for publication. We have now published overview charts of the cases in Tribunal I and Tribunal II that contain current and accurate information about the status of the trials and which will be updated on a daily basis. In the coming weeks we will be publishing brief summaries on each of the cases, timelines for each trial, as well as links to key documents in each of the trials. Additionally, we will begin publishing daily summaries of the proceedings in Tribunal 1 and Tribunal II. We hope that these materials will be useful to you and we look forward to feedback and questions that can help us make this website more effective.

Thank you for your patience.

Project Launch

This week, observers from the Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) began attending criminal trial proceedings at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh.  Directed by Professor David Cohen, AIJI is a joint initiative of the Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center (WCSC) and the East-West Center (EWC). Our team of local and international trial observers will attend daily proceedings in ICT Chambers 1 and 2, and work together to produce reliable, objective, public reporting on the proceedings, which will be published on this blog.  Our weekly digests will also be cross-posted by the War Crimes Studies Center on its homepage, and by the East-West Center.

Although our presence in Court begins at a time when some of the ICT trials have already reached an advanced stage of proceedings, our goal is to build a website that provides well-organized, comprehensive, up-to-date information about all cases pending before the Chambers of the ICT.  We appreciate your patience and understanding as our project gets up and running.