August8, 2011

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister’s Office
Old Sangsad Bhaban
Tejagaon, Dhaka-1215
Bangladesh

RE: Urges For Fair War Crimes Trials in Bangladesh

Dear Prime Minister,

I am William Gomes, human rights activist and journalist . I welcome your government’s commitment to bring to justice those responsible for serious human rights abuses in 1971.

I strongly support a successful legal and judicial process that is fair and impartial in holding the perpetrators of crimes accountable. Justice for victims of these atrocities is long overdue. Those responsible have evaded justice for far too long.



The ICCPR contains key provisions on fair trials and the rights of accused persons. Bangladesh’s obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a state party. It is essential that all aspects of the ICT’s work meet the international standard.

I came to know that British barrister Toby Cadman, representing five of the seven men detained by the International Crimes Tribunal on allegations of committing international crimes during the 1971 war of independence, was prevented from entering Bangladesh on Friday.
Cadman was seeking a ‘visa on arrival’ which he has successfully obtained on the four other occasions he had come to Bangladesh.

Cadman belongs to the barristers’ chambers 9 Bedford Row in London, and has been instructed, along with two other lawyers from the same chambers, Steven Kay QC and John Cammegh by the Jamaat-e-Islami, to provide legal assistance to the party’s five leaders currently detained by the ICT.



I want to remind you that in a letter in March to the Bangladesh law and foreign ministers, the US ambassador of war crimes at large, Stephen Rapp, had encouraged the government to agree to allowing involvement of foreign lawyers at the tribunal.



The field of international crimes is highly specialized and the participation of foreign counsel, particularly those who have litigated cases in the international and hybrid courts and tribunals, is very important to ensure that uniform or generally agreed standards are observed in practice,’ his letter stated.



I urge to Bangladeshi government to better guarantee fair trials for those accused of war crimes during the country’s 1971 war of independence.



I want to remind you that New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement this week that Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, set up by the government last year to hold fair and credible trials for crimes against humanity during the independence war, needs to be brought into compliance with international standards.



Rule 16(2) states that, “No person during investigation under the Act shall be subjected to any form of coercion, duress or threat of any kind.” This is a welcome statement of principle that is consistent with the Convention against Torture (CAT), to which Bangladesh is a state party. The CAT defines torture as any act by which “severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third party committed…intimidating or coercing him or third person, or for any reasons based on discrimination of any kind,” where such pain or suffering is carried out either with the consent or acquiescence of a public official.



As Bangladesh’s law enforcement agencies have a long history of torture and using coercion and duress to force criminal suspects to confess to crimes. In several time there were allegations from the from the detained in ICT that they were physically and mentally tortured. I urge you to consider allegations of torture or mistreatment and to provide an appropriate remedy. It will be important for the credibility of the ICT for all allegations of torture or mistreatment to be impartially investigated promptly and transparently.





I also want to remind you that while Bangladesh has promised to meet international standards, I hope the government; especially you will honor that commitment.



I am very much concern about the accused the right to the presumption of innocence, a fair and public hearing with counsel of their choice and the possibility of bail.



Recently the British barrister Toby Cadman has been refused by the Bangladesh government to enter into Bangladesh that raises a question about the impartiality of the government towards the free and fair trial.



I highly condemn regarding autocratic attitude of the government towards the human rights lawyer Toby Cadman.



I trust that you will take immediate action into this matter.

Yours sincerely,

William Nicholas Gomes

Journalist and Human Rights Activist

E-mail: William@williamgomes.org

www.williamgomes.org