ICT-1 jails Sangram editor for few minutes
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday sentenced the daily Sangram editor and publisher and its Feni correspondent to “simple imprisonment till the rising of the court” for publishing a “contemptuous” report over its proceedings.
Instead of being sent to prison, as per the sentence, the duo had to stay at the court till the day's proceedings ended. The imprisonment lasted only a few minutes as the court finished its proceedings as soon as the order was passed.
The daily's Editor and Publisher Abul Asad and the correspondent AKM Abdur Rahim were also fined Tk 5,000 each.
They were given 15 days to deposit the fine to the government exchequer or face arrest warrants leading to 15 days of imprisonment.
Since its formation in 2010, the tribunal cautioned several newspapers and journalists about reporting on its procedures. But yesterday's order was the first instance of it bringing contempt of court charges.
On April 2, the daily ran a report with a title which roughly translates as “Feni lawyers have condemned and protested the receiving of statements given by police”.
The report quoted a statement of 12 lawyers from Feni Bar Association as saying that the tribunal proved itself to be a “partisan” court by accepting statements of 15 witnesses given to the investigation officer in a case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
The tribunal could not directly link the lawyers to the published statement and gave them the “benefit of the doubt”, exempting them from the contempt charges.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Md Nizamul Huq, however, observed that the two journalists could not escape the liability and should face contempt of court charges.
The tribunal issued a rule on the duo on April 2 to explain why contempt of court charges should not be brought against them for publishing the report.
It also issued a similar rule on the Feni lawyers for making such “contemptuous” statements.
The respondents appeared before the court on April 16 offering “unconditional” apology and tried to prove their innocence in a written reply.
As per the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973, “The tribunal may punish any person, who obstructs or abuses its process or disobeys any of its orders or directions, or does anything which tends to prejudice the case of a party before it, or tends to bring it or any of its members into hatred or contempt, or does anything which constitutes contempt of the tribunal, with simple imprisonment which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to taka five thousand, or with both”.
Meanwhile, the investigation officer, who probed the crimes against humanity which Sayedee allegedly committed during the 1971 Liberation War, was cross-examined by the defence for the second day yesterday.
Helal Uddin, the 28th and last prosecution witness against Sayedee, during his nine-day testimony, had presented records of 17 cases filed against Sayedee though none of those had anything to do with the war crimes.
Mizanul Islam, a counsel for Sayedee, yesterday told Helal that one of the cases was filed against a 26-year-old Rajshahi University student named Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
Helal replied that he did not know this as he had reviewed only two of the cases.
As the counsel continued questioning in this regard, the tribunal reminded him that the witness had already mentioned that he did not review all the case records.
Mizanul replied that it is hard to believe that the investigation officer only went through two of the cases, implying that the witness could be lying.
Afterwards, the tribunal passed an order adjourning the proceedings against Sayedee until May 7.
The adjournment came in response to a prayer from Sayedee's defence, seeking more time for preparation, and considering the illness of another Jamaat counsel, Mizanul Islam, who leads the cross-examination of the witnesses.
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