FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
AHRC-PL-106-2006

BANGLADESH: New petition urges end to political control of judges

(Hong Kong, November 15, 2006) An online petition launched on Wednesday calls for the immediate end to political control of judges in Bangladesh, describing it as "the greatest obstacle" to human rights there. 

The petition, which is hosted by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on its new Bangladesh webpage, http://bangladesh.ahrchk.net, urges that the government separate the judiciary from government ministries without further delay.

"Successive governments have for years promised, both to the people of Bangladesh and international organisations, to separate the judges from the administration," the petition says.

"The Supreme Court has also ordered it. Everyone knows that government control of the courts is wrong. But still nothing has been done about it," it says.

The petition describes the situation of human rights in Bangladesh as "grave", and says that "for the sake of human rights and the rule of law" the courts must be separated from government ministries without delay.

Full text of the petition follows.

The first signatories to the petition include members of domestic and international human rights groups, among them the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma Victims, Task Force against Torture and Bangladesh Institute for Human Rights.

Signatories from abroad include members of London-based REDRESS, the Centre for Victims of Torture (Nepal), Top Indian Trust, Rule of Law Centre (Sri Lanka), and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, which has its headquarters in Denmark.

Basil Fernando added his name to the petition on behalf of the AHRC.

"Torture and extrajudicial killings are common in Bangladesh, but the perpetrators enjoy impunity as the lower courts are under executive control and are thoroughly politicised," Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based group, said.

"The people of Bangladesh deserve independent judges, not courts acting as de facto government agents," Fernando said.

"They are tired of waiting, and so we have launched this petition," he said.

"We hope that concerned persons in Bangladesh and abroad will sign up and bring pressure to bear on the Bangladeshi authorities to at last do what they know they must do, and separate the courts from the government," Fernando concluded.

The petition can be reached directly at, http://bangladesh.ahrchk.net/petition_judiciary.

When the petition is signed, a copy is sent to the president of Bangladesh.

It will also be translated and made available in Bangla and other regional languages.

In August the sister organisation of the AHRC, the Asian Legal Resource Centre, released a 140-page report entitled, "Lawless law-enforcement and the parody of judiciary in Bangladesh".

That report also is available online: http://www.article2.org/pdf/v05n04.pdf.

FREE THE COURTS OF BANGLADESH FROM POLITICAL CONTROL NOW

His Excellency Professor Iajuddin Ahmed
President, People's Republic of Bangladesh
Chief Advisor, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangabhaban, Dhaka
BANGLADESH

Your Excellency

The situation of human rights in Bangladesh is grave. Torture, extrajudicial killing and other gross abuses have been extensively documented and widely reported abroad.

However, the people of Bangladesh have no way to obtain redress for the wrongs they have suffered. Nor can they stop future incidents. This is because the lower judiciary of Bangladesh is under government ministries. It is not independent.

Political control of the lower judiciary is the greatest obstacle to the enjoyment of human rights in Bangladesh.

Successive governments have for years promised, both to the people of Bangladesh and international organisations, to separate the judges from the administration. The Supreme Court has also ordered it. Everyone knows that government control of the courts is wrong. But still nothing has been done about it. I fail to understand why.

There is no alternative: the judges of Bangladesh must be independent. Enough time and promises have passed. I call for the courts to be separated from the ministries without any more delay.

Please act now: for the sake of human rights and the rule of law, free the courts of Bangladesh from political control. The lives and liberties of the people of Bangladesh depend upon this.
 
Yours sincerely,

(Signatory)

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.