The Worldwide Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh has advanced by means of three distinct phases over the previous 55 years. Within the first part, it was conceived beneath Sheikh Mujibur Rahman when Bangladesh sought to ship justice for the genocide of 1971. Within the second part, his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, gained the 2008 election, promising to make use of the tribunal to punish the collaborators of 1971. Within the third part, the identical tribunal is now getting used to ship justice for many who misplaced their lives or had been left injured through the crackdown by Ms. Hasina’s authorities in July-August 2024.

With the autumn of Ms. Hasina, it turned evident that the ICT would additionally bear adjustments to go well with the calls for of the anti-Hasina forces now in energy in Dhaka. Although described as needed by the interim authorities, these adjustments uncovered the tribunal to allegations of political bias. In October 2024, the interim authorities introduced in Golam Mortuza Mazumdar, a retired decide, to the Worldwide Crimes Tribunal.

Over the previous 12 months, the main determine within the ICT has been Mohammad Tajul Islam, a firebrand lawyer who has dealt with a number of excessive profile instances.

The tribunal has been divided into two wings: Tribunal 1, led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumdar, and Tribunal 2, headed by Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, who took cost in Could 2025. Tribunal 1 is contemplating the instances towards Ms. Hasina, whereas Tribunal 2 is inspecting instances towards Ms. Hasina’s colleagues accused of complicity within the violence.

The upcoming verdict of the ICT shouldn’t be with out its sense of irony. Although initiated in 1973, the tribunal couldn’t function beneath Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as Mujib began normalising ties with Pakistan in 1974 after attending the Lahore Islamic Summit, the place he met with Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This assembly mellowed requires justice within the newly liberated Bangladesh. The ICT misplaced a few of its urgency through the years beneath Ziaur Rahman, Abdus Sattar and Normal Ershad.

The problem of justice resurfaced through the 2007-2008 interim authorities, when Ms. Hasina campaigned to ship justice to the survivors of the 1971 violence and revived the ICT Act of 1973. The tribunal later sentenced a number of Jamaat leaders to loss of life. The senior-most chief of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Gholam Azam, was additionally convicted.

The tribunal’s anti-Hasina edge is sharpened by the truth that Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam was the defendant for each Gholam Azam in addition to different Jamaat leaders between 2013 and 2016, when majority of the capital punishments had been handed out.

Dilemma stays

Because the ICT prepares to ship its verdict on November 17, its dilemma stays the identical as 1973 and 2013-2016. The ICT was conceived to ship justice in a nationwide authorized framework for crimes outlined as heinous beneath worldwide legislation. The worldwide angle was necessitated because the masterminds of the 1971 genocide was exterior Bangladesh — in Pakistan. Equally, throughout 2013-2016, the ICT punished Jamaat leaders inside Bangladesh whereas leaving the instances involving Pakistani nationals unaddressed. In 2025, many of the most important accused, together with Ms. Hasina, are exterior the nation, although a few of the accused in instances of disappearance of political dissidents and human rights activists are in custody and are more likely to be tried beneath Tribunal 2.

Whereas the ICT has framed the crimes dedicated over the past weeks of Ms. Hasina’s rule beneath worldwide legislation, it’s, nonetheless, not more likely to be thought to be a purely home train inside Bangladesh. Official sources in India have already indicated that they contemplate the ICT a home authorized mechanism and never as a world platform. Additionally they level out that the tribunal shouldn’t be giving equal listening to alternatives to the important thing accused.

In latest written interviews, Ms. Hasina described the ICT as “politically motivated”. The interim authorities, nonetheless, has denied these allegations, insisting that the justice for victims of July-August 2024 violence is a separate matter.