Bangladesh News

Canadian jurist and McGill University professor Payam Akahavan yesterday said deposition of the complainant of Tk 2.99 crore extortion case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina showed the case is ‘non-existent’.

“To continue with the case anymore would be a miscarriage of justice,” said Payam, who is now in Dhaka, and heard deposition of the complainant in court.

Talking to newsmen after coming out of the court, Payam said, “The ongoing trial is not trial of Sheikh Hasina but trial of the integrity of judicial process.”

He expressed concern over detention of the Awami League (AL) president, denying bail to her and taking confessional statement from another accused in the case, former health minister Fazlul Karim Selim, through ‘torture’.

Payam, also a US attorney and human rights expert of United Nations, mentioned that he had submitted a petition to the jail authorities seeking to meet Hasina. But the authorities said the jail code does not allow such meeting.

On alleged violation of human rights in treating both Hasina and Selim in jail, the Canadian legal expert said, “My role is to relay to UN and international communities what I am seeing and experiencing. It is a clear violation of human rights.”

He also said “I am concerned over the health condition of Hasina as she is denied access to her family physicians and is treated by physicians engaged by the jail authorities,” Payam said.

He also said he had talks with Selim and came to know that he was subjected to torture and was compelled to make confessional statement in such circumstances.

The jurist, who arrived in Bangladesh on Sunday, hoped that defence lawyers would pursue the case to the end. The trial will prove whether it is a ‘travesty of justice or triumph of rule of law in Bangladesh.’

Trial of the case began yesterday with complainant Azam J Chowdhury’s deposition.