This is s rolling blog on the Kamaruzzman execution, which the government is now seeking to go ahead in a short number of days
You need to keep refreshing the page to see updates
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This rolling blog is now finished. And further developments in relation to the execution of Kamaruzzman will be discussed on new pages
Monday, 10 November 2014
11.55 pm: Govt backs down on execution without full judgement
I missed, perhaps the most important news of the day.
New Age published a report in the paper this morning which stated that the Attorney General gave a press conference on Sunday in which he said that the government was likely now to wait until the publication of the Appellate Division's full judgement in Kamaruzzman's case before executing him. A similar story was published
in the Daily Star.
In the press conference, it appears he first acknowledged that if the government was going to follow the Jail Code, the prison could not take any action without a 'warrant of execution' and this would first require a full appellate court judgement
Secondly, that the government would have to wait for the appellate division's judgement on Molla's rejected application to review in order to find out whether Kamaruzzman could seek a review application of his appeal judgment.
So where does that leave us now.
First, this is a big U-turn by the government, and by the Attorney General. It was only a few days ago that it seemed that the execution was going to be any day. And the government/AG rhetoric left little doubt about their intentions.
Secondly, I would speculate that the main reason for this change of events, was the differences of opinion within the appellate division (nothing unusual about that) concerning the right approach about issuing a short order or not. The government, I imagine had hoped that the court would be willing to issue a short order, but at least one judge was perhaps not in favour of that approach.
Thirdly, whatever was the reason behind the government decision, it is a good one. To have executed Molla before he had a chance to even see the reasons why the court had dismissed the appeal would have been simply wrong, yet alone before giving him a chance to review the decision (when there remains a chance that he has a right to seek a review). It also will have the effect of diluting the international criticism about the execution.
Fourthly, there is the issue of when the appellate division judgement will be issued. In the Molla case the short order was issued in mid September, and the full judgement at the end of November - a period of about 2.5 months. In this case, the judgement does not need to be anywhere near as long since many of the legal issues will have been dealt with in the Molla judgement. So whilst it could take as long as 2.5 months, it it is more likely to take less. A mid-December execution, around victory day is still possible - though it will depend on what the appellate division rules in its decision on Molla's review application.
5.10 pm: BREAKING NEWS: US government calls for halt to Kamaruzzaman execution
In a move that I would gauge will be far from popular amongst many/most in Bangladesh, the United States has called for a halt to the execution of the Jamaat-e-Islami leader Kamaruzzaman. It did so through a statement given by its Ambassador-at-large for Global Criminal Justice, Stephen Rapp a couple of hours ago.
The key part of Rapp's statement, given in a conference call to myself (as a New Age reporter) and a reporter from the biggest newspaper in Bangladesh, Prothom Alo, is as follows:
'As I said during my fifth visit to Bangladesh in August 2013, we have seen some progress, but still believe that further improvements to the International Crimes Tribunal process could ensure these proceedings meet domestic and international obligations. Until these obligations can be shown to have been met, it is best not to proceed with executions given the irreversibility of a death sentence.'
I have written a short article for New Age which includes further comments given by Ambassador Rapp, and
will link to it when it comes up on the website. I will also provide further details about what he said later.
Sunday, 9 November 2014
1.30 pm: HRW calls for Halt of execution
Calling the international Crimes Tribunals, '
replete with fair trial concerns', Human rights watch has called for the execution of Kamaruzzaman to be halted.
The full text is here.
It first calls on government to allow for a review of the full judgement:
"Kamaruzzaman and his counsel have yet to receive the full text of the final verdict, which is necessary for him to be able to lodge a petition for review of the decision within thirty days, a standard procedure in all death penalty cases. Government officials have indicated that the execution is possible before the full verdict is issued which goes against standard policy in death penalty cases."
It then refers to its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, but states that such a sentence
“is particularly problematic when proceedings do not meet fair trial standards and where the right to appeal against a death sentence by an independent court is not allowed.”
In relation to fair trial concerns, it states:
Human Rights Watch noted that trials before the ICT, including that of Kamaruzzaman, have been replete with fair trial concerns. In Kamaruzzaman’s case, defense evidence, including witnesses and documents, were arbitrarily limited. Inconsistent prior and subsequent statements of critical witnesses were rejected by the court, denying the defense a chance to challenge the credibility of prosecution witnesses. An application by the defence to recuse two judges for prior bias was summarily rejected.
This follows a disturbing precedent from other cases. In December 2013, Abdul Qader Mollah was hanged following hastily enacted retrospective legislation which is prohibited by international law. Another accused, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, was convicted in spite of credible allegations of the abduction by state forces of a key defence witness with the ICT refusing to order an independent investigation into the charge. Many of the trials have been marred by the evidence of intercepted communications between the prosecution and the judges which reveal prohibited contact. The ICT’s response on several occasions to those who raise objections about the trials has been to file contempt charges against them in an apparent attempt to silence criticism rather than answer substantively or indeed, to rectify any errors.