The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on contempt charge against the two journalists of The Economist till June 18.
Barrister Mostafizur Rahman, appeared for the Economist journalists, sought more time to provide the tribunal with some information about British law regarding the conduct of journalists. He made the request when the tribunal wanted to know according to British law if a journalist was allowed to make a direct contact with a judge to enquire about news matters and if a journalist was bound to disclose the name of his news sources.
In reply, the counsel expressed his inability and sought further time to give the reply.
The tribunal earlier served the showcase notices to the two journalists of ‘The Economist’ as one of them had made a telephone call to the former ICT-1 chairman Justice Nizamul Haque to know about his Skype conversation with Ahmed Ziauddin, an expatriate war crime expert.
“The contemnor journalist only wanted to verify the veracity of the Skype conversation between Justice Nizamul Huq and Ahmed Ziauddin. It falls under his journalistic responsibility.
The Economist journalists received the record of conversation from a third party, Mostafiz said, but they did not publish it.
There was no precedence in Bangladesh to convict a journalist for direct communication with a judge, he also said.
“The High Court had two observations in this regard but there was no precedence of conviction,” Mostafiz said.
The counsel requested the tribunal to exonerate the two journalists, giving some observation regarding the issue.
The prosecution also sought further time to place its submissions about the journalists’ conduct.
The ICT-1, under the chairmanship of its former chairman Justice Nizamul Huq, served the notice on December 6 last year upon the chief editor of The Economist, a London-based news magazine, and its South Asian bureau chief Adam Roberts for making a direct contact with him about his conversation with Ahmed Ziauddin.
The tribunal issued the notice as per section 11 (4) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973.
-With The Independent input
