UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, a prominent British Muslim leader sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh, says he did not receive a fair trial to clear his name, calling the process farcical

Record ID: 836398

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, a prominent British Muslim leader sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh, says he did not receive a fair trial to clear his name, calling the process farcical
  • Date: 6th November 2013
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 6, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BARRISTERS' CHAMBERS VARIOUS OF CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNBDITE) (English) CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN, SAYING "This is a very unfortunate and sad state of affairs. One can only say that this is totally unfounded and actually announced by a farcical trial process by a very compromised tribunal in Dhaka." CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNBDITE) (English) CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN, SAYING "In my absence they have appointed a lawyer and she herself said, although in this whole compromised process, she said she's convinced that I had absolutely no part in these things, and she thought that I should be acquitted without any problem but that is not what this trial court is for. It is there for giving death sentences to the opponents of government as required by the government, and you will be surprised to hear that some judgements are not written by the judges but in the ministry by the officials." CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN TALKING (SOUNBDITE) (English) CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN, SAYING "There was no case against me in last forty years. If there are eyewitnesses, if there are evidence so strong, why were they not brought against me earlier, nearer to the time? Or not even a criminal case was filed against me in the last forty years unless it is politically motivated and perhaps instigated for other reasons than what they are saying." CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNBDITE) (English) CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN, SAYING "Well it's a tremendous pressure of course. People are ...In fact my wife is a teacher and we were on a brief break to Morocco and arrived the previous night and the next morning the whole world fell apart, the media was camping out on our front door and it was absolutely nightmare for whole family." LAWYER TYPING ON COMPUTER CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN TALKING TO LAWYER (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOBY CADMAN, BARRISTER REPRESENTING CHOWDHURY MUEEN UDDIN, SAYING: "The government of Bangladesh can of course submit a request for extradition which they have thus far failed to do. There was a lot of noise by the government when this first started that they were going to be seeking his extradition. They chose not to and tried him in his absence. A British judge would obviously be able to look at that and consider whether it would now constitute and abuse of process to extradite him. But there are of course numerous hurdles to extradition such as the imposition of the death penalty, the human rights concerns and various other considerations that the court would have to look at."
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2013 12:00
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  • Location: Pakistan, United Kingdom
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  • Country: Pakistan United Kingdom
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  • Reuters ID: LVA7P65HBPZXIEVPQW0ZBYBFFJ4K
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  • Story Text: A Britain-based Muslim leader said on Wednesday (November 6) that a court ruling which sentenced him to death in his native Bangladesh for war crimes committed forty years ago was a politically motivated move.
    Chowdhury Mueen Uddin was on Sunday found guilty in absentia for the torture and murder of 18 intellectuals during Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, during which three million people were killed.
    Mueen said in an interview that the convictions were "totally unfounded" and called the trial process farcical.

    "There was no case against me in last forty years. If there are eyewitnesses, if there are evidence so strong, why were they not brought against me earlier, nearer to the time? Or not even a criminal case was filed against me in the last forty years, unless it is politically motivated and perhaps instigated for other reasons than what they are saying," said the diminutive and bespectacled 64-year old, a grandfather of two.
    Bangladesh's government set up the war crimes tribunal in 2010 to investigate abuses during the 1971 conflict, angering the two biggest opposition parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami, who say the government is using the legal proceedings against them.
    The war crimes convictions have in recent months sparked a wave of violent protests in Bangladesh, presenting the government with a security and credibility challenge ahead of polls early next year.
    For Mueen, now living with a death sentence hanging over him has felt like "a nightmare".

    "Well it's a tremendous pressure of course. People are ...In fact my wife is a teacher and we were on a brief break to Morocco and arrived the previous night and the next morning the whole world fell apart, the media was camping out on our front door and it was absolutely nightmare for whole family," he said.
    Wearing a remembrance day poppy on his lapel and appearing calm as he sat in the gilded surrounds of his lawyer's rooms, Mueen said he had not had any contact with the legal authorities in Bangladesh, either before the trial or after the conviction.
    Since settling in Britain in 1972, Mueen has primarily worked for religious organisations. He arrived in London on an employment visa after allegations were made against him in the aftermath of Bangladesh independence.
    A journalist during the war, he denies having been involved in violence.
    Now a British citizen, Mueen said he has over the last forty years travelled to Bangladesh frequently and without any difficulty to visit his family and see humanitarian projects. He said that he was sad that this would no longer be possible.
    Bangladesh's Law Minister Shafique Ahmed has told reporters that international standards were upheld during the tribunal.
    To date no request for extradition has yet been sought by the Bangladesh authorities, said Mueen's lawyer, Toby Cadman, adding that if it was, he saw no real risk of Britain agreeing to it given the imposition of the death penalty and human rights concerns.

    "The government of Bangladesh can of course submit a request for extradition which they have thus far failed to do. There was a lot of noise by the government when this first started that they were going to be seeking his extradition. They chose not to and tried him in his absence. A British judge would obviously be able to look at that and consider whether it would now constitute and abuse of process to extradite him. But there are of course numerous hurdles to extradition such as the imposition of the death penalty, the human rights concerns and various other considerations that the court would have to look at," he said.
    Mueen said his only hope of clearing his name would be a separate trial held outside of Bangladesh.
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