THE Supreme Court yesterday handed down death sentence to Abdul Quader Mollah, Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami, for his crimes against humanity in 1971. It is worthwhile to note that with this verdict, the SC has overturned the life term that the trial court, ICT-2 awarded him on February 5, 2012.
The highest court’s judicial decision provides a reason to feel satisfied for the fact that this is the first of the war crimes trial cases where the legal process has run its full course.
Trying war criminals was the demand of the nation, and through the SC judgement it has been duly met. We would like, on this occasion, to congratulate Sheikh Hasina and her government for having instituted the trial against war criminals in the first place.
It may be recalled that in the face of public protest against the earlier punishment of life term awarded to Mollah, the government was prompted to have the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act-1973 amended to ensure that the state could appeal against the judgement to the higher court.
At this point, one finds the main opposition BNP’s stance on the war crimes trial ambivalent and confounding. That is so because they are yet to clarify what they actually mean by their argument of maintaining international standard in the conduct of the trial.
We hope that all other war crimes-related cases pending with the court will also see speedy culmination in keeping with highest standard of justice.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Bangladesh: SC verdict on Quader Mollah
THE Supreme Court yesterday handed down death sentence to Abdul Quader Mollah, Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami, for his crimes against humanity in 1971. It is worthwhile to note that with this verdict, the SC has overturned the life term that the trial court, ICT-2 awarded him on February 5, 2012.
The highest court’s judicial decision provides a reason to feel satisfied for the fact that this is the first of the war crimes trial cases where the legal process has run its full course.
Trying war criminals was the demand of the nation, and through the SC judgement it has been duly met. We would like, on this occasion, to congratulate Sheikh Hasina and her government for having instituted the trial against war criminals in the first place.
It may be recalled that in the face of public protest against the earlier punishment of life term awarded to Mollah, the government was prompted to have the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act-1973 amended to ensure that the state could appeal against the judgement to the higher court.
At this point, one finds the main opposition BNP’s stance on the war crimes trial ambivalent and confounding. That is so because they are yet to clarify what they actually mean by their argument of maintaining international standard in the conduct of the trial.
We hope that all other war crimes-related cases pending with the court will also see speedy culmination in keeping with highest standard of justice.
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