Defence, UN rights experts, HRW urge govt to halt execution
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Monday said Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah can be executed any day as the International Crimes Tribunal’s death warrant has cleared the way for his execution. The chief counsel of Mollah, Barrister Abdur Razzak, however, asked the government not to execute the ICT death warrant without allowing a review plea while Bar Council Vice-president Khandker Mahbub Hossain, also a counsel for Mollah, described the ICT order issuing the death warrant as “illegal”.
Two United Nations human rights experts also expressed grave concern and urged the government to halt the execution of verdict against the Jamaat leader.
“There is no legal obstacle to execute Mollah now, since he has no right to file a review petition with the Supreme Court against its verdict awarding him the death penalty,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said.
He said a convict usually can file a review petition with the Supreme Court against its verdict under Article 105 of the constitution, but the Article is not applicable to Mollah since he is a war crimes convict.
“War criminals cannot get relief under Article-47A (2) and the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, does not allow Mollah to file a review petition. Now the jail authorities would execute the verdict as per the government’s directive,” the attorney general said, referring to Section 20 (3) of the ICT Act that says the sentence awarded under the Act shall be carried out in accordance with the orders of the government.
Meanwhile, Barrister Razzak sent a notice to the government, asking it not to execute the ICT death warrant against Mollah until a review petition challenging the Supreme Court verdict is disposed of.
Razzak said his client will file a review petition with the apex court against the judgment after receiving the certified copy of the verdict.
Soon after sending the legal notice, Bar Council Vice-president Khandker Mahbub, at a press conference, said, “The Supreme Court awarded the death penalty to Mollah for wartime offences. According to the law, it is the duty of the apex court to send its order to the tribunal. The issuance of the death warrant by the tribunal against Mollah is illegal. The jail authorities will be responsible if they execute the tribunal warrant. We have decided to move to the Supreme Court against the tribunal’s illegal order.”
Explaining rule 979 of the Jail Code, Mahbub said it was the duty of the apex court to send the death warrant to the jail as it has awarded the death sentence to the Jamaat leader. But it was the tribunal that had sent the warrant although it did not award him the death sentence. “We shall file the review petition after getting the certified copy of the apex court verdict,” he added.
Pointing to the Awami League-led government, the Bar Council vice-president said, “If you want to take anyone’s life, then it should be done in accordance with the law.” Barrister Abdur Razzak and advocate Tajul Islam were also present at the briefing.
At a separate press meet earlier in the day, Mollah’s wife Sarwar Jahan demanded a “proper retrial” of the war crimes case against the Jamaat leader after carrying out an investigation through a neutral probe agency. “My husband has been presented as a murderer in front of the nation only for his anti-Awami League politics,” she alleged.
Mollah’s son Hasan Jamil alleged that the government was hatching a conspiracy to unlawfully execute Mollah before December 16. Mollah’s relatives urged the Supreme Court to accept the review petition, which the defence is likely to file immediately after getting the certified copy of the verdict.
The legal notice served by Mollah’s lawyers points out that according to rule 979 of the Jail Code, the concerned court, which delivers a death sentence against an accused person, would send the death warrant to the jail authorities. In Mollah’s case, the death warrant was sent by the ICT, although the capital punishment was awarded by the Supreme Court.
A total of six officials including the home secretary, inspector general of police (prisons), deputy IG (prisons) and the Dhaka district magistrate have been made respondents in the notice.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2, on February 5, found Abdul Kader Mollah, 65, guilty in five of the six charges of crimes against humanity and gave him life term imprisonment. But the Supreme Court, in its maiden verdict in a war crimes appeal, found Mollah guilty in all six charges against him.
Overruling the judgment of the Tribunal-2 that had sentenced Mollah to a life term for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 1971, the Supreme Court awarded him the death penalty.
Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteurs on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, and on summary executions, Christof Heyns, expressed great concern about information according to which Mollah’s death sentence could be executed as early as Tuesday, said a press release issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday.
“The right of appeal is of particular importance in death penalty cases,” Special Rapporteur Knaul stressed.
“Anyone convicted of a crime has the right to have his or her conviction and sentence reviewed by a higher tribunal, as laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Bangladesh is a party,” she said. “This provision is violated where a court of final instance imposes a harsher sentence that cannot be reviewed.”
The UN HR experts also reiterated their concerns that the defendant was not granted a fair trial.
“In countries that have not abolished the death penalty, capital punishment may be imposed only following a trial that complied with fair trial and due process safeguards,” Special Rapporteur Heyns noted.
“Any death sentence undertaken in contravention of a government’s international obligations is tantamount to an arbitrary execution,” Heyns underlined. “Only full respect for stringent due process guarantees distinguishes capital punishment as possibly permitted under international law from a summary execution, which by definition violates human rights standards.”
The UN Special Rapporteurs cautioned that “under such circumstances, the execution of Mollah could trigger further violence and unrest that has been agitating the country in the recent months.”
The UN Special Rapporteurs called for all the defendants before the Tribunal, including the Appellate Division, to receive fair trials.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international organisation, has also urged the government to stop execution of the death sentence awarded to Quader Mollah ‘for the sake of fair trial’.
“The execution of the convicted Jamaat leader should immediately be stayed due to fair trial concerns,” the rights organisation said in a statement on Sunday adding that the convict should be granted a right to appeal against the death sentence.
The HRW Asia director, Brad Adams, said: “Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an irreversible, degrading, and cruel punishment.” “It is particularly reprehensible in cases where laws were retroactively passed in order to enable the death penalty, and where the right to appeal against such a final judgment is not allowed,” he said.
-With The Independent input
