The judicial process which sentenced a Bangladeshi former prime minister to death - and her niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, to two years in prison - has been criticised by human rights lawyers.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh last month sentenced Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in absentia for crimes against humanity related to the 2024 crackdown by the Awami League government on student-led protests in the country. Some 1,400 people were killed in the 'July revolution' which led to the downfall of the Hasina government.
Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate and a former Treasury minister, was sentenced in her absence by the same tribunal for corruption relating to the allocation of a plot of land. She has denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement, the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) said: 'While efforts to pursue justice for human rights violations are essential, including in relation to serious crimes committed under the former administration, the IBAHRI stresses that all proceedings must uphold international fair trial guarantees and condemns the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.'
Recent trials, it said, 'appear to fall short of recognised legal standards signal democratic backsliding and highlight a justice system at risk of being used as an instrument of political contestation'.
It noted that an international legal team acting for Hassina has 'highlighted issues with due process, including the lack of formal notification of the charges, denial of representation by counsel of her choosing and reliance on a state-appointed lawyer with whom she has had no communication'. Imposing the death penalty following a trial that did not meet international fair trial standards ‘would effectively amount to summary execution and a clear violation to the right to life'.
IBAHRI co-chair Mark Stephens said: ‘Reports of harassment and intimidation of defence lawyers in the representation of their clients, as in Tulip Siddiq’s case, strike at the heart of the right to a fair trial and undermine the rule of law in Bangladesh. Such practices represent a serious misuse of state authority. The interim government must ensure that legal professionals can work safely and independently, and must ensure a genuine commitment to justice, not political retaliation.'
The institute also called on the interim government of Bangladesh to halt all executions, establish a formal moratorium on the use of the death penalty and commit to full and permanent abolition.
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