Cadman calls for suspension of war crimes tribunals

British lawyer Toby Cadman has demanded suspension of the Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunals alleging a breach of international law in Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami’s death penalty. Cadman, has also asked for a freeze on all the sentences handed down by International Crimes Tribunal-1 and 2 claiming ‘serious prosecutorial and judicial misconduct’. Speaking at a media call in London on Friday local time, Cadman, the foreign counsel for Jamaat, said they had moved the UN Office of the High Commissioner and UN Special Rapporteurs to intervene in the trial. The ICT-1 on Wednesday gave Nizami the capital punishment for his wartime atrocities. The 71-year old Jamaat chief was found guilty in eight of the 16 charges – including spearheading the execution of intellectuals, mass killing, rape and loot – levelled against him. But Cadman complained: ‘The Tribunal Judges failed to apply the proper legal principles as recognised under customary international law at the time of the conflict in 1971 in breach of the principle of legality. The Tribunal Judges convicted Nizami for establishing an alleged paramilitary group without presenting any credible evidence,’ he said in a media statement. Barrister Abu Bakar Molla and the coordinator of an organisation styled ‘Save Bangladesh’ Nazrul Islam was also with him in the press meet, according to bdnews24.com.