8 April 2015
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
Ravina Shamdasani
Location:
Geneva
Subjects:
Bangladesh / imminent execution
We urgently call on the Government of Bangladesh to halt the
execution of Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, which is
reportedly imminent, following the rejection of his appeal on Monday by the
Supreme Court. Kamaruzzaman was
sentenced to death on charges of crimes against humanity by the Bangladesh
International Crimes Tribunal. The trial was reportedly rife with irregularities
and did not meet international fair trial standards.
The UN Human Rights Office has long warned that, given
serious concerns about the fairness of trials conducted before the Tribunal,
the Government of Bangladesh should not implement death penalty sentences. The
Tribunal has delivered 16 verdicts and 14 death penalty sentences to members of
the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh National Party since its
inception in 2010. All those who were convicted were accused of committing
crimes against humanity, genocide and other international crimes in 1971. One
of them, Abdul Quader Mollah, was executed in 2013.
Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death in May 2013 and his
death sentence was upheld on appeal in November 2014. He filed for an
independent review of his sentence to the Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court on 5 March 2015 but, without hearing the application on its merits, the
Supreme Court summarily rejected his petition.
The UN Human Rights Committee, which interprets the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Bangladesh has
ratified, has stressed that “in cases of trials leading to the imposition of
the death penalty, scrupulous respect of the guarantees of fair trial is
particularly important” and that any death penalty imposed after an unfair
trial would be a violation of the right to life.
The UN opposes the use of the death penalty, even in cases
where stringent fair trial standards appear to have been met and even for the
most serious international crimes. We urge the Government of Bangladesh to
impose a moratorium on the death penalty and join the growing number of States
that have abolished this inhuman practice.
ENDS
For more information, please contact Ravina Shamdasani (+41
22 917 9169 / +41 79 201 0115/ rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22
917 9310 / +41 79 618 34 30/ cpouilly@ohchr.org).
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