Dhaka, October 22 (). Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) on Wednesday ordered the jailing of 15 army officers. However, the ICT says the action has been taken in three separate cases of alleged enforced disappearances, killings and other crimes against humanity during the Awami League government.
Let us tell you, the officers against whom action has been taken were considered close to Sheikh Hasin. A three-member bench of ICT-1 headed by Justice Ghulam Murtuza Majumdar issued this order after hearing a petition on Wednesday morning.
According to reports, the accused officers had sought bail, but the tribunal rejected the pleas and ordered them to be sent to jail.
Regarding the case, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam said, “The tribunal has ordered the jailing of 15 army officers who were produced today in cases of enforced disappearance and murder.”
Bangladeshi media outlet UNB quoted the prosecution as saying that a total of 34 people, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have been named in the three cases, while 15 of the 25 accused military officers are currently in custody.
Earlier, on 11 October, Bangladesh Army Headquarters had announced that 15 officers had been taken into military custody after being formally charged in three cases in ICT. Let us tell you that out of the 25 military officers against whom allegations have been made, nine are retired or suspended.
“A total of 15 accused officers are now in Army custody, while one officer is still unaccounted for. He had left his home one morning and has not returned since then. Efforts are on to trace his whereabouts,” Bangladesh’s leading newspaper The Business Standard quoted Bangladesh Army’s Adjutant General Major General Mohammad Hakimuzzaman as saying.
Former Bangladesh PM Hasina had expressed strong objection to the arrest of military officers. Targeting the country’s interim government, he had said that there is no rule of law in Bangladesh under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.
Addressing a virtual meeting with party leaders in Nagaon, he asked, “I am shocked as to how the Army can be expected to hand over these officers to the law. Where is the law? There is no rule of law in this country. This government is illegitimate, and all its actions are illegal. Why should these officers be handed over to such a government?”
Speaking about the ICT, Hasina further said, “We had established the tribunal to try those who opposed the independence of Bangladesh. However, they have amended the tribunal’s statutes so extensively that it has become a ‘Yunus Court’ or a ‘Jamaat Court’—a court that is controlled by war criminals.”
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KK/GKT
