JURIST - Paper Chase: Bangladesh war crimes tribunal judge resigns

[JURIST] Justice Mohammed Nizamul Huq, a judge for the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [Facebook page] resigned from his position on Tuesday. Huq was the chairman of the tribunal's three-judge panel, and is a Justice for the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh [official website]. His resignation [AP report] follows recent allegations of impropriety [Economist report]. The report indicated that Huq ordered two journalists to appear before to explain how they obtained e-mails and recorded telephone conversations between an outside lawyer and himself. The journalists obtained the information in a wider investigation into the practices of the tribunal, the results of which they have yet to publish. The ICTB was established in 2010 [JURIST report] to handle war crimes charges stemming from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War [GlobalSecurity backgrounder].

The ICTB has arrested and indicted individuals accused of war crimes in connection to Bangladesh's war for independence. In August, police in Bangladesh arrested [JURIST report] a top member of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) [official website; GlobalSecurity backgrounder] after the ICTB ordered his arrest hours earlier. In July, the ICTB indicted Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, secretary general of the JI on seven counts of crimes against humanity [JURIST report] he allegedly committed during the war. Also, Bangladesh police arrested [JURIST report] Mir Kashem Ali for allegedly being an auxiliary to the Pakistani armed forces and running a torture facility at the Dalim Hotel during the war.