In a spectacle that shocked even the most jaded observers of Bangladesh\u2019s crumbling judiciary, the so-called International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) yesterday turned its courtroom into a political intimidation arena. The target: Senior Advocate ZI Khan Panna, a decorated 1971 Liberation War hero and one of the country\u2019s most respected lawyers. The crime?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Refusing to act as a puppet defense counsel for Sheikh Hasina in two farcical \u201cenforced disappearance\u201d cases that everyone knows are designed to end in one predetermined outcome\u2014death by hanging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What unfolded on Wednesday was not justice. It was a naked display of vindictive power by a tribunal now universally recognised as a Jamaat-e-Islami revenge machine operating under the patronage of Muhammad Yunus, Tarique Rahman\u2019s BNP, Jamaat chief Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, foreign fixers Toby Cadman and Jon Danilowicz, and\u2014according to multiple intelligence and diplomatic sources\u2014elements within the US \u201cdeep state\u201d and Pakistan\u2019s ISI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Freedom Fighter Dragged Through the Mud<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ZI Khan Panna, wheelchair-bound and visibly unwell, was forcibly summoned from his chamber after he dared to withdraw from representing the exiled former prime minister. Chief Prosecutor Md Tajul Islam\u2014a man who spent years defending 1971 war criminals and Al-Badr commanders\u2014screamed at the elderly lawyer in open court, issuing veiled threats and shouting \u201cMind your language!\u201d when Panna tried to explain his position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Panna cited health reasons and the vicious attacks he was receiving from both prosecution sympathisers and Awami League hardliners (leaving him, in his own words, \u201csandwiched\u201d), Tajul sneered that Panna\u2019s real client, Sheikh Hasina, \u201cdoes not respect the tribunal\u201d and that this amounted to contempt of court. Tribunal chairman Justice Golam Mortuza Majumder and his two colleagues sat mostly mute while the chief prosecutor bullied a veteran of the Supreme Court bar for twenty excruciating minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is Revenge, Not Justice: Sajeeb Wazed slams verdict against mother<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Army Pullout: What it means for Bangladesh law and order<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, a humiliated Panna was made to apologise on his knees (metaphorically) before the bench replaced him with Amir Hossain\u2014the same state-appointed lawyer who \u201cdefended\u201d Hasina in the earlier July massacre case that ended, predictably, with a death sentence handed down in absentia after a trial that lasted under five months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tajul Islam: The Face of Jamaat\u2019s Judicial Takeover<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Make no mistake\u2014Tajul Islam is not a neutral prosecutor. He is a lifelong Jamaat loyalist who once proudly represented convicted genocide perpetrators at the very same tribunal when it was under Awami League control. Today, wearing the prosecutor\u2019s robe, he openly boasts that the cases against Hasina and senior army officers are \u201cmore than revenge.\u201d His social media history is littered with blood-curdling calls for Hasina\u2019s execution. This is the man now deciding who lives and who dies in Bangladesh\u2019s courtrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And he is not alone. Tribunal chairman Golam Mortuza Majumder, prosecutors, investigators, and even some judges have documented Jamaat and Shibir links. The entire apparatus has been captured by the same Islamist network that collaborated with Pakistani occupation forces in 1971. Their mission is simple: reverse the verdicts of history, hang the daughter of Bangabandhu, decapitate the secular officer corps of the Bangladesh Army, and turn the country into an ISI client state under the guise of \u201creform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yunus, Tarique, Shafiqur, Cadman & the Foreign Hand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind Tajul stands a rogue\u2019s gallery of enablers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Muhammad Yunus, the unelected interim leader who amended the 1973 ICT Act through illegal ordinances so his kangaroo court could prosecute sitting and former prime ministers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Tarique Rahman, acting BNP chairperson, whose party has entered into a public alliance with Jamaat to share power after the \u201crevolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ICT-BD: Sheikh Hasina slams General Waker for insults to army officers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Hasina condemns trial of patriotic army officers in illegal ICT-BD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman, whose cadres are now embedded in every ministry and commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – British barrister Toby Cadman and former American diplomat Jon Danilowicz, two foreign mercenaries who once screamed about \u201cvictor\u2019s justice\u201d when Sheikh Hasina tried 1971 war criminals but now happily draft charges and coach prosecutors to ensure those same war criminals\u2019 ideological heirs get their revenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – And, according to serving intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, quiet logistical and financial support from certain Washington and Islamabad circles that see a weakened, Islamist-leaning Bangladesh as a useful counterweight to India and China in the Bay of Bengal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International Outcry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The November 17 death sentence handed to exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ex-Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal for 2024 \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d has been overwhelmingly condemned as a politically motivated revenge trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amnesty International called it \u201cneither fair nor just,\u201d slamming the lightning-fast in-absentia proceedings, lack of chosen counsel, and the \u201ccruel\u201d death penalty. Secretary-General Agn\u00e8s Callamard stressed that genuine accountability for the July-August 2024 killings requires impartial trials, not vengeance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ex-FM Momen bins OHCHR report, asks UN chief to reinvestigate violence<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ICRF: OHCHR narrative is super biased, it blames Awami League for everything<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Human Rights Watch echoed the criticism, branding the trial a violation of ICCPR fair-trial guarantees, especially the right to appear and mount a defense. HRW highlighted the tribunal\u2019s long history of political bias (including under Hasina herself) and reiterated its opposition to capital punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) welcomed accountability in principle but expressed regret over the death penalty and stressed that trials in absentia imposing capital punishment must \u201cunquestionably\u201d meet international due-process standards, which this one did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Hasina herself rejected the verdict as \u201cbiased, predetermined, and illegal,\u201d challenged the Yunus regime to take the case to the ICC, and accused the Jamaat-influenced tribunal of settling old scores. The near-universal verdict from rights bodies: this was victor\u2019s justice, not justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Tribunal That Exists Only to Kill<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Hasina, speaking from exile, has repeatedly called the tribunal \u201cillegal\u201d and \u201cfascist.\u201d Her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy told India Today the entire process is \u201cpredetermined revenge, not justice.\u201d Even neutral Bangladeshi lawyers\u2014those not yet forced into hiding or exile\u2014whisper that no defense counsel can safely represent Awami League or army figures without risking disbarment, assault, or worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rights body GCDG rings alarm bell as extremism resurges under Yunus regime<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n