Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called upon the government to halt the executions of BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.
The rights watchdog made the call Friday, a day after the Supreme Court released the full text of the review rejection orders of the death row war criminals.
In a statement, HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said: “The authorities should immediately suspend the death sentences of Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid of the Jamaat-e-Islam Party and Salahuddin Qader Chowdhury of the Bangladesh National Party pending an independent and impartial review of their cases.”
Take a look: SC upholds Salauddin's death penalty * SC upholds Mujahid's death penalty
“Justice and accountability for the terrible crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence are crucial, but trials need to meet international fair trial standards,” said Brad Adams. “Unfair trials can’t provide real justice, especially when the death penalty is imposed.”
The statement also stated that the death sentences against Salauddin and Mujahid “follow a disturbing pattern from previous ICT cases.”
“Treating the prosecution and defense equally is a basic fair trial principle, but the ICT has routinely ignored that principle in its seeming eagerness to convict the accused,” Adams said.
Read more: 'Steps to be taken as per law if Mujahid, Salauddin seek clemency'
The accused in all these cases were allowed a minuscule fraction of witnesses, counsel were regularly harassed and persecuted, defense witnesses faced physical threats, and witnesses were denied visas to enter the country to testify, the statement claimed.
The statement said the government assurances that it would adopt recommendations from the US government, Human Rights Watch, and others to improve the proceedings and amend the law have yet to be fulfilled.
According to the statement, Stephen Rapp, the former US ambassador for war crimes, who has long advised the government to make changes to ensure fair trials, “spoke out this week on the miscarriage of justice” in the cases of Mujahid and Salauddin.
“Bangladeshis are rightly demanding justice for the atrocities in the liberation war,” Adams said. “But delivering justice requires fairness and adherence to the highest standards, particularly when a life is at stake.”
