Investigation Agency-ICTBD

Last updated

Investigation Agency-ICTBD
Formation2013
Headquarters Dhaka, Bangladesh
Region served
Bangladesh
Official language
Bengali
Website Investigation Agency-ICTBD

Investigation Agency-ICTBD is a specialized law enforcement agency of Bangladesh under the Ministry of Home Affairs responsible for investigating cases and suspects for the International Crimes Tribunal. [1] [2] The agency is led by Md. Abdur Rahim and M Sanaul Haque, both former Bangladesh Police officers with the rank of Inspector General of Police. [3] [4]

History

Investigation Agency-ICTBD was established in 2013 according to the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973. It purpose is to investigate war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation war and part of the Bangladesh Genocide. [5] [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghulam Azam</span> Bangladeshi politician

Ghulam Azam was a Bangladeshi Islamist politician, a terrorist and a razakar. He was the former leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh.

Delwar Hossain Sayeedi was a Bangladeshi Islamist leader, politician, public speaker, and convicted war criminal, who served as a Member of Parliament representing the Pirojpur-1 constituency from 1996 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International criminal law</span> Public international law

International criminal law (ICL) is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. The core crimes under international law are genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh genocide</span> 1971 genocide of Bengalis, especially Bengali Hindus, by Pakistan

The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis, especially Bengali Hindus, residing in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as Operation Searchlight was launched by West Pakistan to militarily subdue the Bengali population of East Pakistan; the Bengalis comprised the demographic majority and had been calling for independence from the Pakistani state. Seeking to curtail the Bengali self-determination movement, erstwhile Pakistani president Yahya Khan approved a large-scale military deployment, and in the nine-month-long conflict that ensued, Pakistani soldiers and local pro-Pakistan militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 Bengalis and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women in a systematic campaign of mass murder and genocidal sexual violence. In their investigation of the genocide, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists concluded that Pakistan's campaign involved the attempt to exterminate or forcibly remove a significant portion of the country's Hindu populace.

Félicien Kabuga is a genocide suspect and Rwandan businessman who played a major role in the run-up to the Rwandan genocide. A multimillionaire, he was closely connected to dictator Juvénal Habyarimana's Hutu nationalist MRND party and the Akazu, an informal group of Hutu extremists who helped lead the Rwandan genocide.

The Razakar was an East Pakistani paramilitary force organised by General Tikka Khan in then East Pakistan, now called Bangladesh, during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed</span> Bangladeshi politician (1948–2015)

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed was a Bangladeshi politician who served as a Member of Parliament and as the Minister of Social Welfare from 2001 to 2007. He was executed in 2015 for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad Kamaruzzaman</span> Bangladeshi politician and journalist

Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was a Bangladeshi politician and journalist who served as the senior assistant secretary general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and was convicted of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh. He was executed by hanging at Dhaka Central Jail at 22:01 on 11 April 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami</span> Bangladeshi Islamist political party (founded 1975)

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, is a major Islamist political party in Bangladesh.

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, is a British citizen convicted of war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War which involved the murder of Bengali intellectuals in collaboration with the Pakistan Army. After the liberation of Bangladesh, Chowdhury escaped from Bangladesh and attained British citizenship. Bangladesh has yet to file a request with the UK government to bring back Mueen, and the two countries do not have any extradition treaty signed between them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury</span> Bangladeshi politician

Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury was a Bangladeshi politician, minister and six-term member of Jatiya Sangsad and member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee, who served as the adviser of parliamentary affairs to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in from 2001 to 2006. On 1 October 2013 he was convicted of 9 of 23 charges and sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh for crimes during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. However, limitations placed on his defense testimony were called "disturbing" and the trial called politically motivated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh)</span> Domestic war crimes tribunal

The International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh) (ICT of Bangladesh) is a domestic war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh set up in 2009 to investigate and prosecute suspects for the genocide committed in 1971 by the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams during the Bangladesh Liberation War. During the 2008 general election, the Awami League (AL) pledged to try war criminals. The government set up the tribunal after the Awami League won the general election in December 2008 with a more than two-thirds majority in parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh)</span>

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is an ongoing tribunal in Bangladesh that aims to investigate and administer justice regarding the war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes against peace committed by Pakistan army and their local collaborators Razakar, Al-Badr, Al-Shams during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. In 2008's public election, one of the principal electoral manifestos of the Awami League was to initiate the trial process of war criminals. As promised, a member of parliament from Awami League submitted the proposal of the trial of war criminals on 29 January 2009 in National Parliament and the proposal was accepted unanimously. Finally after 39 years of Liberation of Bangladesh, on 25 March, the tribunal, attorney panel and investigation organization was formed for the trial of the ones accused of war crimes.

David Bergman is a British investigative journalist. Bergman has worked for Bangladeshi and British newspapers. He was first known in Bangladesh for his reporting on war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War. An investigative documentary on the subject he worked as a reporter and researcher for British television in 1995 won an award. Twenty years later, he was convicted of contempt of court by Bangladesh's special war crimes tribunal in 2015 for contradicting the official death toll of the war. Bergman has also contributed to The New York Times and Foreign Policy.

Abul Kalam Azad was a former Bangladeshi politician of the Jamaat-e-Islami, televangelist and convicted war criminal of the Bangladesh liberation war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Shahbag protests</span> Shahbag Protests (movement) in 2013

On 5 February 2013, protests ignited in Shahbagh, Bangladesh, fueled by the call for the execution of the convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah. Previously sentenced to life imprisonment, Mollah was convicted on five of six counts of war crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh. Mollah supported the West Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and played a crucial role in the murder of numerous Bengali nationalists and intellectuals. The demonstrations also sought the government's ban on the radical right-wing and conservative-Islamist group, Jamaat-e-Islami from participating in politics, including elections, and a boycott of institutions supporting or affiliated with the group.

The 2012 ICT Skype controversy was the leaking of Skype conversations and emails between Mohammed Nizamul Huq, head judge and chairman of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal, and Ahmed Ziauddin, a Bangladeshi lawyer based in Brussels. These conversations took place during the prosecution of the accused for alleged war crimes during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movement demanding trial of war criminals (Bangladesh)</span>

The movement demanding trial of war criminals is a protest movement in Bangladesh, from 1972 to present demanding trial of the perpetrators of 1971 Bangladesh genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation War from Pakistan.

Mohammad Wahidul Haque is former Army and police officer. He is the former Director General of National Security Intelligence, the main civilian intelligence agency of Bangladesh.

Tureen Afroz is a Bangladeshi lawyer and former senior prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal. She was removed from the tribunal after allegedly meeting accused war criminal Mohammad Wahidul Haque. She prosecuted cases against Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Ghulam Azam, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Motiur Rahman Nizami, and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

References

  1. "Learning about genocide and justice". The Daily Star. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  2. "Long walk to justice". The Daily Star. 14 December 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  3. "IAICT-BD". ictbd-investigation.org. Archived from the original on 5 October 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  4. Afroz, Tureen (2019). Trials of 1971 Bangladesh Genocide: Through a Legal Lens. Partridge Publishing Singapore. ISBN   9781543749854 . Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  5. "International War Crimes Tribunal: A performance review". The Daily Star. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  6. "Stage set for war trial". The Daily Star. 26 March 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  7. "War crimes evidence found against Rajshahi man". The Daily Star. 14 January 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2019.