Law minister Shafiq Ahmed presented the International Crimes (Tribunals) (Amendment) Act 2009 in the parliament on Wednesday, for upcoming trials of war crimes, with the speaker urging quick passage before the end of the current parliamentary session.

Shafiq presented the bill for tailoring of the original 1973 act to try war crimes committed by individuals or groups of individuals during the war of independence from Pakistan.

The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry for overnight scrutiny.

Speaker Abdul Hamid requested the committee to submit its report on the bill to the parliament secretariat by noon on Thursday for passasge of the legislation on the last day of the current session.

The House will sit from 4pm on Thursday.

The cabinet gave the go-ahead on July 6 to amend the law to ensure "fair and neutral" war crimes trials.

Shafiq said in the day that the 1973 act allows for trial of armed forces and associate forces and his ministry had recommended an added provision to try individuals and groups of individuals for war crimes in Bangladesh.

He also said a provision for appeal against the tribunal's verdict has also been included in the draft amendment, which is not in the original law.

"Amendment to the law was needed to ensure fair and neutral trials to make them globally acceptable," said the law minister.

He said English has been proposed as the official language for the trials but the amendment keeps Bengali as well.

A law ministry official told bdnews24.com that the draft amendment also proposed to reform the definition of "associate force" to include groups such as the Rajakar, Al-badr and Al-shams militias who collaborated with the Pakistani occupying forces in 1971.

Shafiq has said a temporary tribunal will be constituted for the trials. A prosecution team of five to ten lawyers headed by a public prosecutor and an investigation committee will also be specially formed.

Trial of war crimes was one of the election pledges of the present Awami League government.

A resolution to try such criminals was passed in the first session of the ninth parliament in January.

Source: bdnews24.com

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