HRDB Summit: British Attorney Toby Cadman Worries of Mistrust and Division among Bangladesh People Over Flawed War Crimes Trial

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Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh

Dec 08, 2014, 11:21 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Barrister Toby Cadman, a British lawyer, who has expertise in war crimes laws and served as a prosecutor in war crimes trial in Bosnia, expressed his concern that Bangladesh may continue to suffer from for a long time due to mistrust and division that has created over the issue of trying war criminals.

Speaking at a seminar on "Spate of judicial and extra judicial killings in Bangladesh" in New York on December 06, 2014, Toby Cadman said, The International Crimes Tribunal, which has been established in Bangladesh to try the accused war criminals, who had allegedly collaborated the Pakistan occupation forces in 1971, has been internationally criticized as a mockery of justice and is being used for political purposes of the Bangladesh's ruling party Awami League. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International has spoken against and condemned the gross human rights abuses and political repression, but Bangladesh government has disregarded these statements.

Toby Cadman, who was appointed by the Jamaat-i-Islami party, to defend a number of its' leaders, who are facing charges of committing crimes against humanity in 1971, had been to Bangladesh a number of times, but at one stage his entry to the country was banned and he was thrown out from the Dhaka Airport. He said Bangladesh needed international attention in the trial of so called war criminals. But the government of Bangladesh has chosen to act unilaterally to carry on trial without the assistance of international organizations, which are established to try for crimes of international nature. The way the Bangladesh government wants the International Crimes Tribunal to function has already created sharp division among the Bangladeshi people that will continue to hunt the country in future.

He urged the international community to come forward to pressure the Bangladesh government to end massive violation of human rights abuse and judicial killing.

The well attended seminar was organized by the Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh (HRDB) at the York College of the City University of New York, chaired by its president Mahtabuddin Ahmed. Dr. Abid Bahar, Dr. Nakibur Rahman, Shahana Masum, Abdul Aziz, Mir Masum Ali also spoke at the event.