Dhaka: The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has published a gazette further amending the International Crimes Tribunal Act-1973.
The gazette was published on Sunday (November 24) by order of the President. Secretary of the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division Dr. Hafiz Ahmed Chowdhury signed it.
The International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973 has been amended to become the ‘International Crimes (Tribunal) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024’. The ordinance states that from now on, various United Nations agencies and international human rights organizations will be able to participate in various proceedings of the case.
The tribunal will be able to order compensation to the victims. The gazette also states that foreign lawyers can be appointed subject to the permission of the Bar Council.
Earlier, on November 20, the Advisory Council of the Interim Government gave in-principle and final approval to the draft of the ‘International Crimes (Tribunal) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024’ at the Secretariat.
Later, in a briefing on this matter, it was said that the section that was included in the draft to bring political parties under trial in the Tribunal Act has been removed. The Advisory Council believes that it would not be right to link any other issue with this trial. Adding the issue of banning political parties or organizations will create an opportunity to question this law unnecessarily. The government does not want to provide that opportunity. If there is a need to ban any political organization for their criminal activities or if there is a demand in the society, the country has the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Election Act, and the 1978 Political Party Ordinance