Bangladesh trials

[ahlam1399]

Motiur Rahman Nizami, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh, has become the fifth person to be hanged for his alleged role in the 1971 war. He is also the fourth from the JI to be given the death penalty. This execution, like the four which preceded it, has been condemned by international human rights groups because of the unfairness of the trial. ** outside observers have been allowed during these trials. Nizami had served as a minister in the last government of Begum Zia, who is the primary rival of current Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The JI is being specifically targeted because it opposes Hasina and her Awami League. In the last election, held in 2015, Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party refused to take part after the JI was barred from competing and the polls were marred by violence. Rather than seek peace, Hasina has only further fanned the flames of hatred and has become even more authoritarian. A better model for Hasina to follow would have been that of Nelson Mandela. Bangladesh could have formed a truth and reconciliation commission so that those guilty of crimes in 1971 could be identified and even shunned by the wider society without causing more political tension. The arbitrary and brutal use of the death penalty has only led to more anger that will likely spill out into the streets. Bangladesh also has a more pressing militant problem than that posed by the four-decade old actions of the JI. Last month alone, a university teacher, two rights activists and a Hindu have been killed by militants. Hasina has sought to blame this on the JI, while remaining blind to the existence of a greater threat. Rather than solve these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice – as well as provide security to those under threat – the Awami League is settling scores, both old and new, against its political opponents. Bangladesh will never be able to clear the dark clouds of 1971 as long as political opportunism trumps fairness.

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