I didn’t threaten war tribunal

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday asked BNP chairperson’s adviser Khandaker Mahbub Hossain to explain by October 21 why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for his recent comments on war crimes trial.The three-member tribunal led by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, however, exempted Mahbub, vice-chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council, from personal appearance before it , “considering his status”, and fixed October 21 for further  order in this regard.On October 1, the tribunal awarded death penalty to BNP lawmaker  Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971.Following the verdict, Mahbub said that if voted to power, his party would try those involved in the trial.On Thursday, the prosecution filed a petition with the tribunal, saying that the comments were tantamount to contempt of court and sought legal action in this regard.It also submitted to the court copies of four dailies of October 2 — the Prothom Alo, Janakantha, Bangladesh Pratidin and Kaler Kantho — which published the remarks of Mahbub, also a former president of the Supreme Court  Bar AssociationThe petition also said the Prothom Alo quoted Mahbub as saying, “If the nationalist force comes to power, they will try those who are war criminals in the real sense. Those who were tried out of vengeance and the cases which were prepared on the basis of fairytale must go. And those who were involved in the farcical trial, Inshallah [if Allah wishes], they will also be tried on the soil of Bangladesh.”The court, in its order yesterday, said by issuing some “baseless” and “scandalous” statements, Mahbub challenged the power and jurisdiction of the court and its judges.As a senior lawyer of the highest court, Mahbub “deliberately threatened” the persons involved in the trial, including judges, and “clearly threatened” independence of the judiciary, the tribunal added.
Mahbub’s reaction Later, at a press briefing at the Bar Council, Mahbub denied “threatening” the judges of the tribunal.“I said nothing against the judges… It is the prosecution and the witnesses  I was referring to, surely not the judges who only deal with the case on its merits,” he claimed.
Mahbub was a public prosecutor at a Special Tribunal that in the early 1970s conducted the trial of collaborators of the Pakistan army under the Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order, 1972.Forty years later, he became a lawyer for war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Delawar Hossain Sayedee and Abdul Quader Mollah.