From New Age
National Human Rights Commission chairman Mizanur Rahmman said on Monday that there was no scope to create confusion over the definition of the crimes being dealt by the International Crimes Tribunal.
Speaking at a roundtable in the city he said that the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act 1973 had unambiguously defined the crimes that would come under its mischief.
He said that the 1973 law describes genocide, rape and other crimes as crimes against humanity and peace just as the international law states.
He said that Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal was dealing with the offences committed particularly during the 1971 Liberation War.
He said that the tribunal did not provide new definitions of these crimes.
Mizan said that the tribunal was only dealing with the internationally recognised crimes.
Liberation War Museum hosted the roundtable on ‘Non-retroactivity of International Crimes Tribunal and Defining the Crimes Against Humanity.’
Mizan said that he would expect that the 1973 law and the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh would set an international example of prosecuting the war crimes accused.
At the roundtable inauguration earlier in the morning, law minister Shafique Ahmed said
that the government set up the International Crimes Tribunal to ensure justice to the people who
suffered during the Liberation War.
He said that the tribunal was not politically harassing anyone.
California University professor Laurence Fletcher, Sara Hossain of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, International Crimes Tribunal registrar Shahinur Islam and LWM trustee Mufidul Haque spoke, among others.
