Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Bangladesh has asked Amnesty International to retract its criticism of the country's execution plans for opposition politicians convicted of war crimes at a local tribunal.
In 2013 the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) convicted Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, a senior politician from Jamaat-e-Islami and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, of war crimes committed during Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971, reports the Jurist.org.
Their convictions and subsequent death sentences were upheld earlier this year, and the two men filed review petitions to be heard by the country's top court on November 17.
AI stated that the trials of the men "failed to meet international standards."
They also noted, "in the government's haste to see more war crimes convicts executed, both men were subjected to a speeded up appeals' process.
The UN has stated the ICT fails to meet international fair trial standards."
The ICTB, established in 2009 under the International Crimes Act, is charged with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed during the 1971 conflict, in which about 3 million people were killed.
In June a Bangladeshi court gave Syed Mohammed Hasan Ali, a fugitive commander of an auxiliary force of Pakistani troops, a death sentence for torture and massacre in the Liberation War.
In April a Bangladeshi appeals court rejected a final appeal by Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, an Islamist party official convicted of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation war, upholding his death sentence.
In February the ICTB convicted and sentenced Abdul Jabbar, a militia leader and former lawmaker, to life in prison for genocide and religious persecution committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
Earlier that month the tribunal convicted and sentenced Islamist leader Adbus Subhan to death.
In February the ICTB sentenced the former Bangladeshi Junior Minister to death for genocide and crimes against humanity.
BBN/SK/AD