Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal made Molla a martyr

Abdul Quader Molla was executed last Thursday.

Bangladeshi political commentator Dr Muhammad Ahmedullah writes that the “clear perversion” of the judiciary in the case of Abdul Quader Molla means that an innocent man has been made a martyr.

Those who support the Bangladesh War Crimes Trial and are cheering at the hanging of Molla, wrongly believing that similar to what the Nazis did in Europe during World War II was done by the Pakistani army with the help of the Jamaat, will never be able to with full joy and moral confidence proclaim that justice has been done.

The killers of Molla and their supporters can only enjoy brief moments of bloodthirsty euphoria as it cannot last for long. This is because Molla was not given a fair and transparent trial and the whole world knows that. It was a cooked-up process designed to kill Molla and others using the justification of the judiciary and state power/resources.

The supporters of Molla and those who are opposed to the Bangladesh ICT as it has been operating (due to immorality, involvement of party politics and judicial perversion) will always have the high moral ground and justifiably feel that a big injustice has been done. These include people who fought for Bangladesh bravely in 1971.

Previously, only one side in Bangladesh had the monopoly of “narrative generation” and dissemination and they used these powers to educate and mis-educate people about the war, rather than using science and real evidence.

Perversion of justice

This time and in the future they will never have that monopoly again, neither will they possess the moral high ground which they had for about four decades, with some justification but mostly due to the dominance of their narratives.

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The Awami League, their supporters and Shahbagists will forever be haunted by the injustice and perverse use of the judiciary carried out to achieve political goals. They will never be able to justify what they have done, morally, rationally, legally and with evidence in support of their political use of the judiciary.

They will be reminded of how unjustifiable what they did and supported was. They will be challenged, disturbed and hounded wherever they try to raise their heads in support of this judicial murder and the war crimes trial.

The clear perversion of the judiciary in this case means that Molla’s execution will be seen as an innocent man who has been judicially murdered. Even if Molla was guilty of some or all of the crimes that he was accused of, as a fair trial and transparent and credible court have not made a judgment the supporters of the execution will never be able to confidently claim and successfully proclaim that he was a war criminal.

There will never be another chance to prove that Molla was guilty of war crimes. Therefore, Mollah through this hanging has become an innocent martyr, judicially murdered for political reasons.

Dr Ahmedullah has a PhD in Politics and Epistemology. He is a regular commentator on Bangladeshi politics.

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