Complaints lodged against Hasina, 24 others at ICC
Martin F McMahon, managing partner of a US-based transnational business attorneys group, speaks at a press conference at National Press Club in Washington DC on Thursday. McMohan gave the details on a complaint lodged by two US-based rights organisations against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 24 others with International Criminal Court in The Hague for allegedly violating human rights in Bangladesh. Photo: Banglar Chokh
Two US-based rights organisations have lodged a complaint against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 24 others with International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague for allegedly violating human rights in Bangladesh, BBC Bangla radio reports.
The report aired at 7:30am Saturday identified the two organisations as Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh and Greater Washington DC Bangladeshi-Americans.
Details about the allegations could not be learnt immediately.
The BBC report mentioned neither the names of all the accused nor the time when the complaint was lodged nor
According to the report, the Bangladesh home minister, information minister, state minister for home, state minister for law and justice and the high-ups of the police were on the list of accused.
Asked about the next step in this regard, Ahmed Ziauddin, a Bangladeshi legal expert in Belgium, told the BBC that the ICC will only give a formal go-ahead for investigation when it concludes that the topic is of a grave concern for the world.
The ICC will have to fulfill a number of formalities before taking the charges into cognisance, he added, terming it as a long process.
"It is not so easy that two organisations or a section of people of Washington send a letter and the court begins trial (on the basis of that)."
"It will be a big mistake if we assume so," Ziauddin said.
The ICC is not a court which deals with human rights violation issue, he said, "It is an international criminal court. Specific proofs and evidence have to be submitted here."
What he made from reports in this regard that the compliant repeatedly mentioned the violation of human rights.
"It seems that somewhere there is a mistake or it is part of a smear campaign to achieve political gain," Ziauddin said.
In recent time, no such crime or violation of human rights took place in Bangladesh that can be considered as crimes against humanity in ICC standard.
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