Saudi Gazette exclusive JEDDAH – Eminent British lawyer Toby Cadman, who is representing five Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders accused of committing international crimes during the country's 1971 liberation war, fears that many of the accused will be convicted by the symbolic date of Dec. 16 this year and will be executed by March 25, 2013. This is the reason the flawed International Crimes Tribunal is rushing through the trial process by restricting the number of defense witnesses to only 12 in the case of one of the high-profile accused, said Cadman, who was recently in Jeddah for – what he described as – pressing upon individuals who have influence to take the lead in raising the issue with the Bangladesh government. “My hope is that countries of influence, countries that have an interest in Bangladesh and countries in which Bangladesh has an interest will address the situation,” said Cadman in an exclusive interview with Saudi Gazette here last week. “The defense is required to submit a list of witnesses. This in itself is a fundamental flaw. There is nothing wrong in giving an estimate for time management, but disclosing the names of defense witnesses to the prosecution will enable them to change the case,” said Cadman, who is an international criminal law specialist in the areas of war crimes, extradition and human rights. He said that 12 is a very arbitrary number. “Looking at the way they (the judges of the Tribunal) are now scheduling some of the cases, it is evident that the Tribunal is prioritizing time,” said the lawyer who had been senior legal counsel to the chief prosecutor of the Bosnian war crimes chamber. “If you listen to the statements made by members of the prosecution team, it is evident that the government has the clear intention to convict and ultimately execute at least three – Prof. Ghulam Azam, Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury – on or by Dec. 16 of this year,” he said. The date is significant in Bangladesh's history as on that day 41 years ago the former East Pakistan received its independence. Cadman, who was refused entry into Bangladesh last year, believes
