Bangladesh News

The home ministry has sent to the Election Commission a list of 103 politicians and businessmen who are convicted of criminal offences under Emergency Powers Rules, to assist the commission in keeping them out of the parliamentary and upazila parishad races.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has yet to collect the list of individuals who were convicted of war crimes, although the chief election commissioner (CEC) earlier announced that the commission would collect the list to keep the war criminals out of the electoral races as well, EC sources said.

The amended Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the new Upazila Parishad Ordinance disqualify convicted war criminals from contesting in the parliamentary and upazila elections.

The EC however is working hard to bar loan and bill defaulters from contesting in the polls.

According to a provision of Emergency Powers Rules (EPR), any person, convicted of corruption by a trial court under EPR, will be disqualified from contesting in the parliamentary and upazila elections, even if the conviction is being appealed in a higher court.

The convicted under EPR will not be qualified to contest in the polls until acquitted, according to the provision.

“We sent the list to the Election Commission on November 2 for taking necessary actions,” a senior official in the home ministry said adding, “The individuals on the list have already been disqualified from contesting in the polls.”

The EC however did not seek any list of individuals convicted of war crimes by special tribunals immediately after the country’s independence, the official added.

The commission will send the list of EPR convicts to the returning officers (RO), who will scrutinise nominations and applications for candidacies, said a senior EC Secretariat official.

“We received the list of individuals convicted under EPR. The list contains the names of individuals, the offences, and the terms of their punishments,” the official added.

Most of the 103 individuals are politicians who were convicted and sentenced under EPR by trial courts since the military backed caretaker government had launched its crackdown on corruption suspects in February 2007.

Soon after launching the crackdown the government amended the EPR on February 13, 2007 inserting the provision for disqualifying EPR convicts from contesting in any poll.

Before announcing the schedules for the upcoming parliamentary and upazila polls, the EC asked the home ministry to send the list of EPR convicts, the EC sources said.

The EC feels that individuals convicted under EPR might end up applying for candidacies in the parliamentary and upazila elections, and to filter them out of the races the ROs must have authentic information about them, said the senior EC official.

Some however claim that individuals convicted under EPR might be able to contest in the upcoming polls if the state of emergency is lifted before the deadline for filing nominations or applications for candidacies.

But legal experts say it does not matter whether the emergency is lifted or not, there is no way for EPR convicts to contest in the upcoming polls until the caretaker government amends the EPR provisions to allow them to contest through filing of appeals.

Backing the argument the experts add even if the emergency is lifted before the deadline for filing nominations or applications for candidacies, the pending EPR cases will be adjudicated under the EPR provisions.

WAR CRIMINALS’ RECORDS
The EC also inserted some new provisions in the electoral law in response to the popular demand for disqualifying war criminals from contesting in the polls.

According to the new electoral law, an individual is disqualified from contesting in any election, if the person is convicted of war crimes by any national or international tribunal.

The EC however has yet to collect the records of war criminals from the government to assist the ROs in keeping them out of the upcoming electoral races, the commission sources said.

CEC ATM Shamsul Huda on May 11 this year at a meeting with Sector Commanders Forum said the commission would collect the records of war crime trials under the now defunct collaborators act, in a bid to permanently disqualify war criminals from contesting in any election.

Stressing the need for collecting the records, the CEC also said, “Returning officers will need the records of war crime trials to scrutinise the nomination papers, in order to find out if any applicant has suppressed information about war crime cases against him or her.”

If any candidate is found guilty of suppressing information in the affidavit submitted to the commission, his or her election will be cancelled even after a win, the CEC added.

“But we need the trial records and other documents for that, since the Election Commission does not have any pertinent information,” the CEC said.

Between 1972 and 1975, 752 persons were convicted of war crimes and the government has the records.

Soon after the country’s independence, 37,000 were detained on charges of war crimes, 26,000 of whom were released on a general amnesty in 1973, while 11,000 were still in jails on specific charges of murder, rape, arson, etc.

But after 1975, the collaborators act was repealed, stopping the trials and leading to the release of all war criminals.

Legal experts said although the war criminals were released on amnesty, that does not mean they were proven innocent as they were not acquitted of the charges.

POLITICIANS CONVICTED UNDER EPR
BNP politicians convicted under EPR are former ministers Nazmul Huda, Shahjahan Siraj, Barrister Aminul Haque, Morshed Khan, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, Ziaul Haque Zia, Aman Ullah Aman, Salahuddin Ahmed, Barrister Shahjahan Omar, former lawmakers Ali Asgar Lobi, Manjurul Ahsan Munshi, Naser Rahman, Mosaddak Ali Falu, Hafiz Ibrahim, Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Rashiduzzaman Millat, Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu, and former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury among others.

Convicted Awami League (AL) politicians are former ministers Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Mohammad Nasim, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, former lawmakers Abul Hasnat Abdullah, Sheikh Helal Uddin, HBM Iqbal, Haji Selim, Haji Moqbul Hossain, Shamim Osman, Joynal Abedin Hazari, and SM Mostafa Rashidi Suja among others.

Former minister also Jatiya Party Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, and former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shajahan Chowdhury are also convicted under EPR.

Some other leaders of both AL and BNP, and also some businessmen and former government officials are convicted under EPR too.

AL and BNP have been demanding that the government allows their leaders, convicted by trial courts under EPR, to contest in the elections.