Aisha Rahman, 28 February 2012
Phone tapping, court orders and vitriolic condemnations of the accused point to a disconcerting unity between the regime, the press and the ICT
In the past year, Bangladesh’s Awami League government has embarked on the task of bringing a number of opposition leaders to trial, on charges of war crimes and “crimes against humanity” during the independence struggle of 1971. Although crimes were committed by both sides during the war, a small number of key political figures from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have been …

By the CNN Wire Staff
February 28, 2012 — Updated 1831 GMT (0231 HKT)
(CNN) — A new French law making it a crime to publicly deny the Ottoman Empire’s genocide of Armenians a century ago was ruled unconstitutional Tuesday by France’s Constitutional Council.
The measure, which triggered condemnation from modern Turkey, was given final passage by the French Senate and signed into law by President Nicolas Sarkozy last month.
Sarkozy’s office immediately issued a statement calling for a new version of the law “taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Council.”
“The president believes …

SUNDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2012
DHAKA, FEB 25: Law minister Shafique Ahmed, on Saturday, rejected a letter from the United Nations (UN) claiming that the people standing trial on charges of war crimes in 1971 War of Liberation were being detained illegally. “We have received a letter from the UN, containing the allegations that those who have been standing trial on charges of war crimes under the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) have been detained illegally. But none has been detained without any valid reason or without any investigation. They have been detained …

No-one has been detained illegally in connection with crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said on Saturday. The government has detained some accused on specific allegations, information and evidence relating to the crimes and no human rights violation has taken place in this regard, he said. He came up with the remarks while discussing a UN statement issued to the government on the war crimes trial. The secretaries to different ministries and members of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took part …

The British high commissioner in Dhaka, Robert Gibson, expressed his concern over the trial process at the International Crimes Tribunal at a meeting with the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, on Wednesday.
Referring to questions raised by various quarters about the on-going trial, the British envoy inquired whether due process of law was being maintained in the trial of those accused of having committed crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s liberation war in 1971, according to the law minister.
‘We have told the British high commissioner that it …

As Wikipedia tells us, the Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk (born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demianiuk; Ukrainian,1920), had been living in disguise in the USA since 1952. And in 1986 he (at age 66) was deported to Israel for his war crimes committed in 1942-43 at Treblinka and Sobibor extermination camps. In 1988 he was sentenced to death, in 1993 had his sentence overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court, and so he returned to the USA.
In 2001 he was charged again for his war crimes at Sobibor and Majdanek camps in occupied …

প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা বলেছেন, ন্যায় ও সত্য প্রতিষ্ঠায় যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচারে বাংলাদেশের উদ্যোগ ব্যাপক আন্তর্জাতিক সংহতি ও সমর্থন দাবি করে। এই লক্ষ্যে বিশ্ব বাঙালি সমাজকে সম্মিলিতভাবে দায়িত্ব পালন করতে হবে। তিনি বলেন, একাত্তরের গণহত্যা, মানবতার বিরুদ্ধে অপরাধ ও যুদ্ধাপরাধের জন্য দায়ী ব্যক্তিদের বিচারের কাঠগড়ায় দাঁড় করানো হয়েছে। এই বিচারের জন্য জাতি ৩০ লাখ শহীদ ও অগণিত নির্যাতিত মানুষের কাছে দায়বদ্ধ।
প্রধানমন্ত্রী গতকাল রোববার ওসমানী স্মৃতি মিলনায়তনে বেঙ্গলি ইন্টারন্যাশনাল আয়োজিত প্রথম ‘আন্তর্জাতিক বিশ্ব বাঙালি সম্মেলন’ উদ্বোধনকালে এসব কথা বলেন।
শেখ হাসিনা বাংলা সংস্কৃতি ও ভাষার অধিকতর বিকাশে গণতান্ত্রিক ধারা অব্যাহত রাখার ওপর গুরুত্বারোপ করেন। …

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday sought all-out support and solidarity of the international community towards Bangladesh’s initiative for holding the trial of war criminals to establish truth and justice.
“I hope the world Bangalee community will carry out their duty to this end,” she told the inaugural function of the First International Bengali Conference at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city.
Renowned British poet and researcher on Bangla language and culture William Radecchi spoke as special guest at the event, organised by London-based Bengali International.
President of the organisation, Md Shamsul Haque, and …

DHAKA, Feb 18 (BSS)- Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Golam Ariff Tipu today rejected as “untrue and baseless” comments in a recently aired Al Jazeera report questioning Ghulam Azam’s detention and trial on war crime charges.
“He (Azam) was not detained arbitrarily as alleged by the Al Jazeera, he was detained on specific charges and so how could it be called detention was arbitrary and in breach of international law . . . the allegation is baseless and motivated,” Tipu told BSS.
He …

Trial of Ghulam Azam

Staff Correspondent
Rights activists and champions of the war crimes trial yesterday came down heavily on Al Jazeera television channel for broadcasting a report that said the ongoing trial would throw the country into further political instability.
They alleged the Qatar-owned news channel’s story, aired yesterday, might help provoke instability in Bangladesh.
The report dealt with former Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Ghulam Azam standing trial for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, human rights activist …

আলজাজিরার পর আন্তর্জাতিক খ্যাতিসম্পন্ন আরো কয়েকটি গণমাধ্যমের প্রতিনিধিদের বাংলাদেশে আনার চেষ্টা চালাচ্ছে যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের দল জামায়াত। একাত্তরের মানবতাবিরোধী অপরাধের দায়ে অভিযুক্তদের বিচারকে প্রশ্নবিদ্ধ করার মিশনের অংশ হিসেবে এজন্য ব্যয় করা হচ্ছে বিপুল পরিমাণ অর্থ। ইতোমধ্যেই জামায়াতের প্রচেষ্টায় এদেশে এসেছিলেন আলজাজিরার সাংবাদিক নিকোলাস হক। যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচার নিয়ে তার তৈরি করা প্রতিবেদনটি গত বুধবার আলজাজিরায় প্রচারও হয়েছে। অবশ্য জামায়াতের পরিকল্পনা মতো প্রতিবেদনটির গোলাম আযমের সাক্ষাতকার গ্রহণ করতে পারেননি ওই সাংবাদিক। তবে এই মিশন সফল করার জন্য জামায়াত বিবিসিসহ আরও কয়েকটি সংবাদমাধ্যমের প্রতিবেদককে ঢাকায় আনার জন্য জোর লবিং চালিয়ে যাচ্ছে বলে সরকারের প্রভাবশালী একটি …

By Farooq Tirmizi
Published: February 13, 2012

It is hard to make accounts of genocide sound boring and irrelevant, but a three-member panel at the Karachi Literature Festival managed to pull it off without trying.

KARACHI: It is hard to make accounts of genocide sound boring and irrelevant, but a three-member panel at the Karachi Literature Festival managed to pull it off without trying.

Maybe it was the fact that it was ungodly early for a Sunday morning (it began at 10 am). Maybe it was the format of …