Sheikh Hasina's In Absentia Trial: Bangladesh Lawyers Decry ‘Unfair Process', Question Gaps
A Bangladesh court rejected lawyer ZI Khan Panna's request to represent Sheikh Hasina, on trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
A special court in Bangladesh on Tuesday turned down a senior lawyer's request to represent deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is on trial in absentia for alleged 'crimes against humanity," prompting renewed debate over whether she is receiving a fair defence.
'The state has appointed a defence lawyer for Sheikh Hasina. This (matter) is over," said M Golam Mortuza Mozumder, chairman of the three-judge International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD).
'It is up to the tribunal who would be appointed as the defence lawyer," he added, questioning why ZI Khan Panna 'will come to defend her" at this stage of the proceedings. 'Now, when the train has left the station, he came and asked the station master to arrange his boarding."
Panna's application, presented by lawyer Naznin Nahar, was also rejected in a secondary request to allow him to assist the state-appointed counsel.
Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal are being tried in absentia, with the tribunal earlier appointing little-known lawyer Amir Hossain to represent them both. A third accused, former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, has turned 'approver" to testify against the co-accused.
Panna, a 1971 war veteran in his late 70s and chairman of the legal aid committee of the Bangladesh Bar Council, has been openly critical of the former Awami League regime but expressed his willingness to defend the 76-year-old Hasina. He is also known for criticising the current Muhammad Yunus administration for 'patronising forces" opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence.
British journalist and rights activist David Bergman, who has been following the ICT-BD proceedings, raised concerns last week over the defence arrangements. He noted that one lawyer was appointed for two accused with 'very different interests," creating 'significant potential conflict of interest problems preventing them each from having a proper defence."
Bergman also questioned the short preparation time, pointing out that Hossain only received the prosecution's evidence on June 25, which was five weeks before the trial began and has had no contact with either client.
'It is impossible for any lawyer to… devise a proper defence for both clients, particularly when the lawyer has no contact with the client(s)," he said.
The ICT-BD, formed in 2010 to try wartime collaborators of Pakistan, is now hearing charges against Hasina and her aides. In a reversal, Tajul Islam, who was once a key defence lawyer for Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, is serving as the tribunal's chief prosecutor.
Bergman called the development 'irony," adding, 'There may well be a much stronger word to describe this!"
Last month, the tribunal charged Hasina with crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering a deadly crackdown during the 'July Uprising" led by the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) movement.
The protests forced her resignation on August 5, 2024, after which she left Bangladesh aboard a military aircraft and has since been in India.
Prosecutors say Hasina acted as 'mastermind, conductor and superior commander" in the violence, which the UN rights office estimates killed around 1,400 people between July 15 and August 15 last year.
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August 12, 2025, 21:45 IST
News world Sheikh Hasina's In Absentia Trial: Bangladesh Lawyers Decry 'Unfair Process', Question Gaps
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