Bangladesh: Second ICT verdict Quader Mollah’s victory sign (Editorial in New Age)

New Age - 6 Feb 2013

Editorial : Second ICT verdict and Quader Mollah’s victory sign

THE conviction of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general, Abdul Quader Molla, on Tuesday by the International Crimes Tribunal 2, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the war of independence in 1971, is welcome in view of the principle that no crime—whenever committed or whoever by—should go untried and unpunished. While it is the second conviction since the war crimes trial was initiated by the Awami League-led government in 2010, the first being the sentencing of Abul Kalam Azad, a former Jamaat activist, to death by the same tribunal on January 21, it is the first time that a top leader of the religion-based party has been handed down punishment for war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the content and context of the verdict against Quader Molla could provide further scope for controversy over the trial process.
According to the summary of the full text of the judgement, made available to the press on Tuesday, Quader Mollah was found criminally liable on five of the six charges brought against him; he was acquitted of the other. Yet, while the tribunal ascertained his criminal liability on five charges, which include the mass killing at Alubdi in the capital Dhaka’s Mirpur area, why it sentenced him to life-term imprisonment, and not death as in the case against Abul Kalam Azad, is not clear from the summary. It is also not clear why Molla was deemed to have been ‘complicit’ in the crimes while Abul Kalam Azad was adjudicated to have ‘led’ the crimes although the circumstances in which such crimes were committed seem quite similar. It is also intriguing that the tribunal chose life-term imprisonment as punishment for Quader Molla despite its conclusion in the Alubdi mass killing charge that the Jamaat leader ‘is liable for the atrocious event of massacre in the same manner as if it was done by him alone.’
Moreover, the verdict, is deemed lenient by many, especially in comparison with the one handed down in the case against Abul Kalam Azad, comes in the wake of days of violent agitation by Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, which has resulted in deaths and widespread destruction of public property, for the ‘dismantling’ of the war crimes tribunal and release of its top leaders. Besides, although Jamaat announced that it would observe a daylong countrywide hartal (general strike) today in protest, Quader Molla was seen to be flashing a victory sign after the verdict. In such circumstances, it is entirely likely that there would be speculations linking the tribunal’s perceived leniency with the sustained Jamaat-Shibir violence and vandalism. Besides, it will also lend credence to the suspicion that the AL-led government may be using the international crimes tribunals and the war crimes trial as political leverages, keeping an eye on the next polarisation in electoral politics, although the law minister insisted on Tuesday that ‘the tribunals are working independently.’ Suffice it to say, such suspicion gets reinforced by growing murmurs in society about behind-the-curtain negotiations between the ruling Awami League and Jamaat for a possible entente—overt or covert.
Against such a backdrop, it can be safely assumed that the tribunals in the coming days will come for more intense scrutiny, both at home and abroad. Hence, it is imperative that the tribunals should live up to the historic duty they have been tasked with and make sure that their coming judgements leave no room for political speculation or legal controversy.