The Yunus-led interim government and its key partner Jamaat-e-Islami are taking revenge by framing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League by implicating her in false and fictitious murder cases and trying her at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD).
On Sunday, the Jamaat-controlled prosecution team of the tribunal will submit the formal charges of mass murder and crimes against humanity during the July-August riots and broadcast the proceedings live on the state television channel, Bangladesh Television (BTV).
Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim on Saturday said that this move will ensure transparency in the judicial process.
The two others accused in the case are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
Earlier, the investigation agency of the tribunal submitted its report to the chief prosecutor’s office of Jamaat leader Tajul Islam on May 12. The report names Sheikh Hasina as the instigator of killings.
The same day, in an executive order, the government banned the Awami Leagueโs political activities until the trial of the party is completed in the ICT-BD.
The three-member tribunal is headed by its Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mazumdar.
Tajul Islam was previously a leader of the pro-Jamaat AB Party. When Sheikh Hasina launched the tribunal proceedings to try the 1971 war criminals, mostly linked to Jamaat, Tajul was a defence lawyer.
Moreover, Tajul and Law Adviser Asif Nazrul have already declared that they will complete the trial at the earliest and that a death sentence will be announced against the former premier.
Due to the conflict of interest of Tajul Islamโs role and arranging a mockery of justice by filing false charges, this ICT-BD has already lost credibility at home and abroad.
It is not crystal clear that the deaths of the protesters were not the result of police shooting but participation of armed members of Jamaat-Shibir, teen gangs, and banned militant groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jamaโatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).
Many of the radical student coordinators and leaders of BNP, Jamaat, Hefazat-e-Islam, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish have admitted to killing the police and Awami League leaders and activists since July 16 to date. They resorted to mob beating and hanging dead bodies, as well as firing military-grade weapons at the protesters.
In her speeches available online, Sheikh Hasina refutes the charges against her for ordering the killing of the protesters. She also said she had no wish to cling to power through a bloodshed, and so she left Ganabhaban on August 5.
Speaking at a press conference, Tajul Islam referred to Sheikh Hasina as the โnucleus of enforced disappearances and the โAyna Gharโ (secret detention centre).โ He stated that significant progress in the trial process would be visible by December.
He claimed that the ICT-BD is committed to upholding international standards of justice and human rights.
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