The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Thursday issued a notice upon Ahmed Ziauddin, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Brussels, asking him as to why a proceeding against him shall not be initiated on charge of obstructing fair process relating to cases before the tribunal.
The tribunal issued the suo moto notice for the purpose of upholding the dignity and independence and fairness of proceedings pending before it and also for his acts of making alleged conversations touching the crucial affairs subjudice before the tribunal including the alleged fallacious, offensive and unfounded remark involving the judges of ICT-2.
The tribunal issued the notice as the matter of the illegally recorded alleged Skype conversation of ICT-1 former chairman Justice Nizamul Huq and Ziauddin came to the tribunal’s judicial notice on Thursday for the first time.
The tribunal said it had taken the Skype conversations into cognizance without determining its reliability and asked Ziauddin to answer the notice within 30 days from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
The tribunal set February 7 for submitting his explanations through the Bangladesh Mission in Brussels and asked the foreign ministry for necessary compliance on February 14.
The tribunal will pass further order in this regard on February 17.
Reading out the notice, ICT-2 chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan said, ‘Such conversation with a third person, a Bangladeshi based in Brussels, is not only defamatory and derogatory for the Judges of ICT-2 but at the same time it may likely to cause a wrong perception in the mind of public in respect of tribunal’s independence and fairness.’
It appears prima facie that in course of such alleged private conversations, Ziauddin exceeded the norms of civility and, as it appears, have illegally attempted to touch the independence of ICT-2 and also by maligning its judges, the notice said.
The notice termed Ziauddin a third person and, if the conversation was true, questioned who he was and under what authority he ‘recommended’ for even dismissal of a judge from the ICT-2.
The rule also said that, going beyond his lawful authority, Ziauddin made mostly provoking comments, remarks and advices while he had alleged conversations with former ICT-1 chairman which apparently tended to bring ICT-2 and its judges into hatred which eventually constituted gross contempt of ICT-2.