Untold Facts

Scapegoats of Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh

The highly prestigious international weekly, The Economist of the 27th November issue headlined the 19th November verdict of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Special Bench as the POLITICAL TRIAL: OF SHEIKH HASINA. It is not still clear much less anybody is sure if the Prime Minister of Bangladesh will sue the international news magazine for defamation or not.

Some other human rights organizations, however, were rather softer in their approach to the President and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh in the matter of the verdict. The Amnesty International, a prestigious human rights organization of independent standing has had very promptly on the 20th November that was; the following day the verdict was given for the 12 to death sentence to the former army officers of Bangladesh, appealed for commutation of the sentences.

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales has also issued appeal on the 24th November to the President of Bangladesh to commute the death sentences of those 12 ‘accused’. Some other organizations from other international levels, as well, I knew, have made the same humanitarian appeal that I have no information in specific as yet.
None did any undesired appeal or unreasonable request, because, worldwide as also in their own countries and organizations, death sentences do not exist, and, in fact, not in, at least, 94 countries of the world for the sentence is not only contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also barbarous.

Bangladesh has judiciary of the British colonial past of the 19th century where therein the death sentence is provided, but the English judiciary itself in their own free land does not have any death penalty for their citizens. How come Bangladesh as an independent country committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights still has the death penalty?

In reality the system left over by the colonialists hardly in many cases ensure fair justice, and in the post colonial period the unenlightened rulers and the some inept judges in unison resort to misuse and abuse the due process for blatant miscarriage of justice, more often than not, for punishing the small fries as the scapegoats, in particular.

The period of 1972-mid 1975 had been such a vicious period of total fear and intimidation of all political opponents of the ruling ones. The then rulers unleashed reign of terrors at free will and misuse of all organs of the government - Police, executive, judiciary etc. for personal ends of the top executive. The immediate post independence period in early 1970s the ruling party and the bosses used every organs as instruments of their private fiefdoms for oppression, torture and even extra-judicial killing of imaginary political opponents in thousands at random with impunity, in addition, the judiciary was forced to obey boss’s order in important suits. Miscarriage of justice and judicial murder for scapegoats thus made occurrences making judiciary a mockery of justice. The common people had some respite once the then lone party BAKSAL Government and the ruthless dictator fell through drastic and somewhat cruel actions. The people rejoiced spontaneously the fall of the government in the 15th August 1975 successful coup d etat.
In 1996 specifically for a particular case driven by top boss’s arrogance and until the mid of 2001 the 15th August mutiny was turned into an ordinary murder case. In the suit small fries were apprehended as scapegoats as they had been opponents but not big fishes for they sided with the ruling power thus conveniently escaped any indictment.

Now since January 2009, there had been huge orchestrations by the ruling party for the small fries to hang to death keeping with the revengeful will of the topmost boss. The Supreme Court on the 19th November 2009 did exactly the same that The Economist in their wisdom sarcastically headlined as mentioned above.

It is known from the verdict that the five judges in their judicial acumen took the 15th August bloodletting as the intent to murder and murder of the President on the 15th August 1975 at his Dhaka residence. They found nothing that the mutineers had been there for toppling the oppressive lone party dictatorial government having had no peaceful democratic means to change the government anything short of the coup d etat. Not only that they failed to identify factual differences between the intent to make mutiny and intent to make simple murder but also curiously enough not to let the accused have the benefit of doubt that always goes for the accused!

Poor judges, unlike those of richer countries insured with full social security guaranteed by the State and society, of Bangladesh are extremely vulnerable to almost everything for life sustenance on the boss of the government, and in the particular case, the boss herself was the daughter of the fallen victim of the 15th August occurrence. So had been clearly the miscarriage of justice leading possibly to the judicial murder of the accused in the adventurously concocted case.

Sensing the judicial murder, other responsible persons from inside including one former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (BBC Bengali Service Radio Interview, dated 26 March 2001), another Supreme Court Appeal Division retired justice (Dhaka Bengali daily Naya Diganta, Amardesh etc, dated 16th August 2008), etc. and from outside have, as well, appealed for good sense, at least, to commute the death sentences of the 12 accused small fries made scapegoats, leaving off the supposed to be number one accused for his failure to hold on to Command Responsibility under the Hague Convention of 1907, the then Army Chief, General Safiullah, under whose chain of command the lower ranking officers engineered the 15th August 1975 coup d etat in Dhaka. He escaped indictment, much less punishment, for the simple reason that he sided with the ruling boss’s party in power, and those who refused to line up with the P.M. had been made scapegoats by Hasina.

Though the last rung of the due process in the Supreme Court REVIEW is still to be considered in weeks, one can only hope that there would not be judicial murder of the accused that at this point of time looks certain.

Author: H.B. Khair