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The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has dismissed a petition challenging its jurisdiction to try the genocide and crimes against humanity cases over the mass uprising in July and August.
As a result, there is no bar to proceeding with the trials, according to the tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam.
On Wednesday, the three-member tribunal led by ICT Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder made the decision.
Chief Prosecutor Tajul represented the prosecution at the hearing, bdnews24.com reports.
Afterwards, he said: "A suspect, Ziaul Ahsan, filed this petition. In the petition, he challenged the power and jurisdiction of the tribunal. Their argument was that there was no war in Bangladesh in July and August. If there was no war, there could not be any crime against humanity. Therefore, these crimes against humanity cannot be tried by this tribunal.”
"The second argument was that, since there is no parliament, some amendments to the law brought by ordinance have become illegal. Therefore, the trial cannot be held here."
Regarding the trial of enforced disappearance, he said that the petition stated that the matter was brought to the tribunal by amending the law in 2024. Therefore, it was argued that crimes committed in 2024 could not be tried here.
“After the hearing, the court dismissed their petition today,” said Tajul.
Regarding the dismissal, the court said: “This tribunal is not the place to challenge the validity of the law by which this tribunal was established, that is, the Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973, or the validity of any amendment to that law. If any law is inconsistent with the constitution or there is a question of challenging it, then it must definitely go to a constitutional court.”
The application was filed on behalf of Ziaul Ahsan, a former army officer and former director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre, who was arrested on charges of crimes against humanity.
Senior lawyer MI Farooqui and lawyer Nazneen Nahar represented the petitioner at the hearing on Monday.
Tajul told the media that the applicant had challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal and the ordinance issued by amending the tribunal law.
“We said that if this is done, it will have to be done in the constitutional court, that is, the High Court. There is no scope to challenge this in the International Crimes Tribunal, i.e. this criminal court. Besides, they have challenged the legitimacy of the current government. In that case too, we have said there is no scope to challenge it here.”
“In addition, we have said that anyone accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity will not have any fundamental rights and any law made for their trial, even if it is inconsistent with any article of the Constitution, cannot be challenged. Constitutional protection is provided in this regard.”
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on August 5 in the face of a student-led mass uprising, ending nearly 16 years of Awami League in Bangladesh. Many members of her government and senior officials in the administration and law enforcement have since been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.