Pro-defence commentators often criticise ICT’s acceptance of “hearsay evidence”. How valid is that criticism? It is true that “hearsay” evidence (eg: newspaper reports, or testimony of people who were not present at the scene of crime) is not an ideal kind of evidence in terms of their quality. However, this principle applies to ordinary criminal…
Read moreSince 2011, Cassidy and Associates (“CA”), one of USA’s largest lobbying firms has as one of its clients, Mir Quasem Ali, one of the 14 indicted by the International Crimes Tribunal (“ICT”) for war crimes committed in 1971. Documents from US congress disclose that CA has assembled a four-member team to lobby the ‘US House…
Read moreA recent article published in St. Louise Today, titled “Missourian in quest to free Bangladeshi newspaper owner from jail”, by Mr. Bill Lambrecht, talks about the current lobbying campaign against the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh, led by a Washington based lobbying firm “Cassidy and Associates” and its chairman Mr. Gregg Hartley. This article describes the campaign to free Mir Quasem Ali, owner of a newspaper and a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, who is currently in custody for war crimes in Bangladesh. While this article merely quotes Mr. Hartley and certain other critiques of ICT, it ignores certain other facts and clearly demonstrates either a bias or a lack of information that I will highlight in this writing [..]…
Read moreOn 15 May 2011, ICSF released its position paper on the suggestions of US War Crimes Ambassador Stephen Rapp delivered to the Government of Bangladesh regarding the ICT and its governing statute the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973. It has been prepared by the Legal Research Team of ICSF, one of the 21 such teams…
Read moreSarmila Bose has been invited to key international policy talks on Pakistan over the last few years. This article looks at her connections to various think-tanks and policy groups in both UK and USA which possibly explains her research. …
Read moreShe came like a whirlwind causing a little tsunami in the US capital. The day was March 15, 2011 and the place of occurrence was the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.…
Read moreClick the link to view the Cartoon……
Read moreIn a recently published interview, Lord Avebury seemed to have accepted death penalty as a form of punishment for the perpetrators of 1971 Liberation War, arguing that the same has popular acceptance and support in Bangladesh [..]…
Read more1. We have witnessed how political exploitation hindered the earlier process of war crimes trial. Over the last four decades, politicisation has been used to embed a division within the society for personal and partisan political benefits. This article reviews some of those post-independence schisms and argues why we need to be vigilant to not…
Read moreHow would one make a choice, a correct one, without an all round appreciation of one’s own history? How can one find his own place in the handed down history and determine steps of the future without actually breathing and living it? Compilations like this, at least to an extent, are expected to facilitate that process of reckoning while the facts are still verifiable […]
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