HRDB NEWSLETTER

30 Aug 2016

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh Newsletter

Bangladesh Sets another example of

Judicial Killing

Bangladesh's highest court on early hours of Tuesday 30th Aug

upheld the death sentence for Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a senior leader
of the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
Mir Quasem Ali may be hang possibly within days, unless he is
pardoned by the president, which experts say is unlikely.
Amid irregularities and failed to
meet international fair trial and due
process standards the appellate
division of Supreme Court on Sunday concluded the hearing on the
petition filed by death row convict
leader Mir Quasem Ali, seeking
review of its earlier verdict that upheld his death penalty for alleged
crimes against humanity during the
War of Independence in 1971.
The decision paves the way for Ali's
execution, possibly within days, unless he is pardoned by the president,
which experts say is unlikely.

Two weeks before this review hearing

Ali's son and part of his legal defence
team, Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, was
abducted from his home on 9 August
by Bangladeshi security forces. More
condemnable issue is, since the abduction incident, the officials of the
law enforcement bodies have been
denying the arrest claim.
Barrister Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem on
19 June filed a 68-page review petition with the Appellate Division seeking acquittal of his father.

In this background defence counsel

Khandker Mahbub Hossain on Aug
Five opposition leaders including four 24th prayed for a month to prepare for
leading Islamists have already been
the review hearing, but the court reexecuted for war crimes since 2013.
jected his plea and upheld death penThey were hanged just days after their alty of Mir Quasem Ali.
appeals were rejected by the SuMoreover, the court itself felt that
preme Court.
prosecutors involved with the trial
Most did not seek a presidential rewere not correctly investigating and
prieve because they were thought
prosecuting even though enough
likely to fail.
money was being spent on them, he
said. The government-appointed prosecutors run the cases at the ICT. After
the tribunal delivers a verdict, the defendants appeal at the Supreme
Court.
While hearing Mir Quasems petition
to review his death sentence on Aug
28th, the top appeals bench headed
by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha observed that those prosecutors
involved with the trial do not 'deserve
to be where they are'.
A group of United Nations human
rights experts in a news release issued on Aug 23rd 2016 have urged

the Government of Bangladesh to

annul the death sentence imposed
upon him, and to re-try him in in compliance with international standards.
UN experts also indicated that Ali's
deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and
in breach of articles 9 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.

The UN human rights experts also expressed alarm at reports of

his sons illegal abduction by
Bangladeshi security forces.
Previously, four other party leaders of
BJI including the party chief, Motiur
Rahman Nizami, were executed in similar fashion. This occurred despite repeated calls from International Humane
Rights Groups and diplomatic efforts,
including from the U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry, UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, and Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In addition, disclosures from the international news media show that
there is overwhelming evidence of
serious judicial and prosecutorial
misconduct.
The government has conspired with
members of the judiciary, and the
prosecution, to bring about the desired result for the conviction and
execution of the leading members of
Jamaat-e-Islami. The tribunal has
become a mockery of international
law, and undermines all major international instruments to protect fundamental human rights principles
and basic standards of justice.

Mir Quasem Ali (MQA) is the

Chief Executive of the Diganta
Media Corporation Limited,
the company which owns the
Daily Naya Diganta newspaper and thee TV station Diganta TV (DTV). He is a victim
of political vengeance of the
ruling government in Bangladesh. Government in order to
kill him has conspired to convict him through the false accusation and cases of crime
against humanity and false witnesses given by party men
guided by the blueprint design
of the government.
The International Crimes Tribunal
No.1, Dhaka on 17th June 2012 ordered arrest of MQA for alleged offences allegedly committed during the
1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation.
He was arrested from the headquarters of the daily newspaper. The Tribunal in its order issuing warrant of
arrest against MQA stated that "...he
had already made campaign against
the process of this Tribunal in Foreign
countries...
Although the Tribunal was supposed
to look into incidents of 1971, however
as evident from the order, the Tribunal
was inclined to order arrest for what
Mir Quasem Ali was doing in 2012.
Muzzling the press:
Although the Prosecution alleges that
MQA was involved in several crimes
committed in 1971, the arrest came
after the Daily Naya Diganta & Diganta TV produced a number of critical reports scrutinizing the actions of
the current government. In particular,
these two media outlate exposed the
legal flaws in the investigations of the
government-appointed War Crimes
Tribunal, which has been used to
oppress the opposition party leaders
in the name of trying allegations of
crimes committed during the 1971
Bangladesh War of Liberation.

Death Sentence of Mir Quasem Ali:

A dark picture of misuse of

Judicial proceedings
As a result on 6th May 2013 the government forcefully closed DTV. After 10
days i.e. on 16th May 2013 the prosecution pressed the Charges against
MQA in the Tribunal and 10 days thereafter i.e. on 26th May 2013 the Tribunal
took cognizance of the alleged offences
against MQA allegedly committed in
1971.
Quasem was harassed before arrest
Although arrested in June 2012, the
government started harassing MQA
since 2010 since his media houses had
been very critical to the government
from very beginning. He was banned
from traveling abroad
Bangladesh Bank froze all the bank
accounts of MQA and his family members. No transactions are being allowed
in those bank accounts till date.
What are the various reasons for
Awami League to target a popular
leader like him:
1. Mir Quasem Ali is a leader of Jamaat
-e-Islami, the only political party in
Bangladesh with an honest leadership
capable of moving this country forward
from the ruins of corruption, poverty,
and injustice.
2. Mir Quasem Ali represents the
younger generation of leaders within
Jamaat-e-Islami who are open to much
needed reform and reorganisation of
the party around the cultural synthesis
of the people of Bangladesh.
3. Mir Quasem Ali is one of the few
leaders with a vision for Jamaat-eIslami and Bangladesh. With his massive grassroots support and his intellectual wherewithal, he is in a perfect position to bring his vision to reality.
4. Mir Quasem Ali became an international face of Jamaat-e-Islami due to his

diplomatic connections around the world

and in Bangladesh. His understanding of
the world politics and ability to elegantly
represent Jamaat at the world stage was
unparalleled.
With Mir Quasem Ali out of the equation,
the Awami League assumed that, the
Jamaat-e-Islami will be a weaker political
force unable to cope with changing sociopolitical landscape.
3 main reasons that disqualify allegations against Quasem
1. The charges are newly manufactured
and were never heard of! Though the
alleged incidents took place more than 40
years ago, no such allegations were
brought against Mr Mir Quasem Ali by the
relatives of the victims or the state until a
military-backed Awami League claimed
victory in 2009 elections.
2. Immediately after the war, the new
government of Bangladesh identified,
punished, and in some cases killed the
local collaborators of the Pakistani Army.
Mr Mir Quasem Ali was never arrested
after the war, the authorities did not find
any complaint against him.
3. Mr Mir Quasem Ali was born in 1952.
During the war, he was only 19 years old!
It is impossible that a 19-year-old would
assume leadership role of a large paramilitary force like the Al-Badr or direct a
professional armed force like the Pakistani Army, as claimed by the delusional
state prosecution.
MQA has not been implicated by anyone in any crime for last 40 years. The
ruling regime created trumped charges against him with the sole purpose
of political vindication for his efforts
to expose the corruption and crimes
of this current regime through his media houses. He was not given minimum opportunity to defend the charges brought against him in a kangaroocourt.

Global
Condemnation
The International Community has
been outspoken in condemning
his arrest. Several instances are
referred below:

United States Congress

Congressman Joe Wilson of South
Carolina has called for justice for MQA
in his speech in the House of Representatives (US Congress, June 28,
2012). Hon. Wilson, a Member of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and
South Asia stated that MQA is the owner of the largest opposition-run media
outlet which has openly raised criticism
against the Tribunal as well as against
the ruling government at-large. He
stressed his concern that his [MQAs]
arrest and ongoing detention may represent a thinly-veiled attempt by the
ruling government of Bangladesh to
silence its opponents and critics. He
also stated that the International Crimes
Tribunal of Bangladesh is inherently
flawed and lacks compliance with international standards and it appears that
the Tribunal is international in name
only, as it lacks international oversight
or involvement, experienced foreign
attorneys have been banned from participating, and the Tribunal violates at
least two of Bangladeshs international
treaty obligations.

Britains House of Lords

On 9th October 2012, Baroness Sal
Brinton of Liberal Democrat Party in a
debate on Bangladesh: Human Rights
at the House of Lords said .More
recently, and perhaps more worryingly,
when Sheikh Hasina was being feted in
the UK during the Olympics, she had
ordered the arrest of Mir Quasem Ali, a
leading member of the Islamist party
Jamaat-e-Islami, who is well known
both as a politician and through his ability to reach people through the Jamaat
newspaper and media group. It appears

that his real crime has been to criticise the

war crimes tribunal set up by Hasina,
which seems to take a very retributional
approach rather than the justice and reconciliation

Lord Carlile of Berriew

On 25th November 2012, Britains Lord
Carlile of Berriew in a Press Statement
voiced disappointment on the injustice over
Mir Quasem Ali. Lord Carlile, in his statement highlighted inter alia that -The arrest
of Mir Quasem Ali, a leading member of
the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami and the
owner and director of newspaper and media group Diganta Media, whose only
crime appeared to have been the apparent
criticism of the Tribunal set up by Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina

United Nations human rights

experts
A group of United Nations human rights
experts in a news release issued on Aug
23rd 2016 have urged the Government of
Bangladesh to annul the death sentence
imposed upon him, and to re-try him in in
compliance with international standards.
UN experts also indicated that Ali's deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and in breach
of articles 9 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

International Human Rights

International Human Rights groups that
have spoken out against the judicial proceedings include Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, The International
Center for Transitional Justice, the International Bar Association, No Peace without
Justice, the United States Ambassador-atLarge for War Crimes Stephen Rapp,
Members of the United States Congress,
Members of the British Government, Members of the United Kingdom House of
Lords and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales. The United
Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared the process in breach of
international law, and has referred the matter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Turning a blind eye to the

injustices currently happening in Bangladesh is
no longer an option.
Stop Judicial Killings.
Form an international Tribunal under the auspices of the United Nations to bring the real culprits to justice rather than falsely implicating
and incriminating leaders, scholars
and personalities from the opposition camp.

Stop the use of the death penalty in

all circumstances, even for the most
serious international crimes.

Protect all human rights.

Condemn the incident as in the name
of law enforcing agency members, a
group of plain cloth personnel have
unlawfully picked up detained Mir
Quasem Alis son and his defence
counsel Barrister Mir Ahmad Bin
Quasem Arman.

Call upon the international human

rights organizations and the lawyer
communities to raise voice against
such unlawful and inhuman activities of
the government.

Urge the Bangladesh Govt. and

the
concerned authorities to disclose the
whereabouts of Barrister Arman immediately and to bring him back to his
family. Otherwise, the government has
to take the liabilities if he suffers from

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh Newsletter

30 Aug 2016

Who is Mir Quasem Ali?

Mir Quasem Ali is the founder of more
that 15 Hospitals, 10 Schools and
helped build many orphanages, Women
Shelter & Rehabilitation Centre, Free
medical centers and Mosques.

Foundation. This Foundation is a sister

concern of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, it
runs more than 15 Hospitals and more
that 50 Hospitals are under Construction;
these hospitals provide Health Care at
cost price affordable for the majority of the
Chairman (Management Committee),
population. , One English Medium School,
Diganta Media Corporation. This is a
One Medical College, One Rehabilitation
media house, which owns One Satellite TV Centre for deprived women One Language
Station, One Bangla Language National
Learning Centre and Lends interest free
Daily News Paper, and Two Monthly Mag- loans for SMEs and 49 projects aimed at
azines. One FM Radio station, one English poverty eradication.
language National Daily, One 24 hour web
based news portal both in Bangla and
Islamic Economic Research Bureau.
English will be launched soon.
One of the biggest think tanks of Bangladesh on Commerce and Economics. He
Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited: This
was the Chairman and currently he serves
is the biggest Private bank in Bangladesh as a Trustee of the Board of Trustees of
which introduced Islamic banking and fithe Organizations.
nancing to the people of Bangladesh. He
in one of the Founder and Visionary beFounding Trusty and Member responsihind the success of Islami Bank. He was
ble for Administration, Ibn Sina Trust.
the Chairman of the Executive Committee This trust runs 4 Specialized Hospitals,
for 12 years and Vice-Chairman for 4
One Medical College, and 5 Diagnostic
years. Under his leadership Islami Bank
Laboratories; Ibn Sina Trust was first pribecame the first public listed bank in
vate healthcare provider offering whole
Bangladesh. Islami Bank is the highest tax range of Health Care Services. 100% profit
and VAT paying bank in Bangladesh and
is plowed back for Humanitarian Causes.
the second highest tax paying corporation Trust also runs 11 other community serin the ranking of all corporations in Bangla- vice projects.
desh both national and multi-nationals
combined.
Director (Marketing), Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical Industry. One of the first PharFounding Trusty and Member responsi- maceutical industries in Bangladesh, holdble for Administration, Islami Bank
ing nearly 10% of the Market share. Phar-

maceuticals is the 2nd biggest export sector in Bangladesh.

Chairman, Association of Multipurpose
Welfare Agencies of Bangladesh. This
is the biggest Association of Bangladeshi
NGOs.
Vice- Chairman, Industrialists and
Businessmen Welfare Foundation. A
global forum for Businessmen and Industrialists of Bangladeshi Origin. Currently it
has representation from 20 countries.
Chairman, Keari Limited. This is a
group of Companies which includes Real
State Development, Poultry and Tourism.
This company was the first to launch
ocean going luxury Tourists Liner in Bangladesh. Now it operates two such ships.
Senior Vice President, Allama Iqbal
Trust. This trust is dedicated on development of literature of aesthetic merit.
Trusty (Responsible for Administration), Fouad Al Khateeb Charity Foundation. This trust runs 10 charitable
community services projects.
International Relations:
He is entrusted by Bangladesh Jamaat-eislami for maintaining relationship with
International Community and he is a Senior policy maker in formulating Foreign
Policy of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

Please pray for Mir Quasem Ali a renowned Islamic activist, entrepreneur businessman who is the founder of more that 15 Hospitals, 10 Schools and helped build many orphanages, Women Shelter & Rehabilitation Centre, Free medical centers and Mosques.
Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh (HRDB) / email: humanrightsbd@gmail.com