| Submit your comments on this article |
| Bangladesh |
| Jamaat banks on 3 British legal brains |
| 2011-02-06 |
| Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ... a Pakistani catspaw remaining active in Bangla politix, loosely affiliated with the Pak religious party of the same name and closely affiliated with most of the terror organizations in Bangla. A member of the BNP's four party governing coalition.... has engaged three British legal experts to defend its leaders from allegations of war crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Sources in Jamaat said the three are: Steven Kay QC, Toby Cadman and John Cammegh. A top-level Jamaat leader told The Daily Star, "Currently they are giving us advice but we have plans to appoint them as defence counsels for our leaders against whom formal charges will be placed by the prosecution." Steven was appointed as the court-assigned defence counsel for former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic who had faced charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the International Criminal Court in the Hague of Netherlands. The trial against Milosevic ended without any verdict as he died in prison and the tribunal denied any responsibility for his death. Toby was a prosecution lawyer in the Bosnia Tribunal for war crimes and John was defence counsel in the Special Court of Sierra Leone for international crimes including war crimes committed during the civil war (1991-2001) of the country, said a Jamaat leader. Toby's profile, available online, say that from 2004 to 2005 he was a legal consultant for the establishment of War Crimes Chamber Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina and he served as the first head of the Bosnian Criminal Defence Office. In late 2005, he was appointed as head of the prosecution section for war crimes. In 2006, Toby was appointed as legal counsel to the chief prosecutor and head of the legal advisory section for war crimes, a position he held for three years. It is also mentioned, "Internationally, Toby is currently advising on a number of matters before international tribunals. He is also currently advising the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association on the Bangladesh International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973." John's online profile say that between 2004 and 2009 John led the counsel team for one of Sierra Leone's most notorious rebel leaders, Augustine Gbao, in the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) trial at the special court of Sierra Leone. After one of the longest international criminal trials in history, Gbao was acquitted on more counts and received smaller sentences than any of his co-defendants. Augustine Gbao was sentenced to 25 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Jamaat sources said their plan is to appoint all foreign lawyers from the UK. The sources, however, did not mention the budget for these hires but did say, "We have to pay them". They plan to make them Jamaat's lawyers as well. Currently six politicians are in prison in connection with war crimes during 1971 when three million people were killed and over 200 thousand women were violated by the Pak occupation forces and their collaborators in Bangladesh. Jamaat, widely known as an anti-liberation force, had collaborated with the Pak forces to foil Bangladesh's liberation efforts during the nine-month War of Independence. Among the six jugged alleged war criminals, five are top leaders of Jamaat. They are: Jamaat Ameer (chief) Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojahid, Senior Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, and Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla. When contacted, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Abdur Razzak did not want to say anything specific about appointing foreign lawyers. He only said, "We intend to appoint foreign lawyers but nothing has been finalised yet." Tajul Islam, counsel for the jugged five Jamaat leaders, told The Daily Star correspondent that Steven, Toby and John have agreed to defend the Jamaat leaders. After formal placement of charges against the alleged war criminals, the defence will get a certain period of time to prepare their defence. Tajul said during that preparatory time they want to conduct an investigation of the charges the prosecution would file. "We want Steven, Toby and John not only during the trial time but also to conduct our investigation soon after placement of formal charges because they have expertise in this regard," said Tajul. The International Crimes Tribunal, set up to try the internationally defined crimes committed during Bangladesh's Liberation War, in its rules of procedure for probe, prosecution and trial has given conditional opportunity for appointing foreign counsels by the accused. According to the rules of procedure, the tribunal may also allow a foreign counsel for either party, provided the lawyer has permission from Bangladesh Bar Council. Tajul said Bangladesh Bar Council rules allow lawyers, who are enrolled with the council, to practice in courts of the country. "We have prepared an application to submit before our Bar council seeking permission for Steven, Toby and John to work as counsels for the jugged five Jamaat leaders. If the council doesn't give us permission, we are likely to go to the High Court for necessary directions in this regard," said Tajul. On Toby's role in advising the SCBA, Supreme Court Bar Association President Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, "He is not advising us [SCBA]." "We [SCBA] invited Toby to a seminar last year in Dhaka and at that time he gave his opinion and we give ours about the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973." Steven too attended the seminar. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I'm sure he is, but they probably wanna win... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-02-06 11:30 |
| #1 Ramsey Clark wasn't available? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-02-06 11:19 |