Partisan Presidential Clemency!

[Fazal]

Editorial from Bangladesh Observer
"The heads of state or heads of both government and state in many countries have the provision of granting mercy to a prisoner condemned to death by the court. But this special provision is sparingly and discreetly used everywhere. We cannot say this was done in case of Mohiuddin Jintu, a ruling party leader, who was found guilty in a double murder case and was awarded the ultimate punishment by the court on July 20, 1982. Mohiuddin Jontu, Vice President of Dhaka City Jubo Dal fled to Sweden while the trial was being held in 1982 where he holds the position of the president, BNP, Sweden branch before giving himself up to the courp after 22 years. The court sent him to jail but his mother, without informing the jail authority, sent a mercy petition to the country's president on January 4. Believe it or not, it took only eight days for the president to grant clemency for the condemned man.

The return of the man from Sweden after 22 long years and the granting of mercy almost within a week have surprised and shocked legal experts as well as ordinary people. What can be a greater instance of abuse of presidential discretion, they wonder! The question we can legitimately ask is: hasn't the man been pardoned because he is a BNP leader and might be of use to the party now in crisis? Things could happen so fast because the man's criminal record did not stand in the way of putting him in charge of the BNP Sweden branch and then calling him back home. He returned home, as anyone can see, after receiving the green signal from the top party echelon. Their reckoning was quite simple: after 22 years how many people will remember the grisly murder and the emotion might have by now dissipated.

They are wrong on both counts. The exoneration of the man by the president does not clear him off the crime he committed. Such clemency is unprecedented even in this country's history. The president has certainly failed to maintain the neutrality and the revered position of the august office. This is a compromise that has both immediate and long-term grave imports. The immediate is that the man who practised his hand in committing the murder will feel little restrained to commit similar crimes in the future. If such things happen, will the president take responsibility for those? Then its impact on the ordinary citizens and the court itself will be graver still. People will know that if the ruling party cadres commit a crime like this, they will escape punishment and laws have different standards for different people. That is a crushing mental blow to the citizens.

The BNP-Jamaat alliance has gave an open exhibition of its discriminatory treatment of people. But it has been exceptionally galling in the case of enforcement of legal provisions for fighting crime and treatment of the Opposition protesting the repeated incidents of crime. The government could not prove itself a poorer custodian of the constitution and the law of the land. In fact, both are being mangled at will by this governmenp. This latest incident of clemency by the president of the country brings to the fore how risky both are at the hands of partisan men and women holding the top positions. If they do not change their ways soon, the country will face a legal crisis of unprecedented order because undermining law is no way of establishing a democratic society.

"

bangladeshobserveronline editorial

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Where is RAB and their cross-fire when we need them most?




Edited on, February 2, 2005, 6:35 PM GMT, by Fazal.

[Shubho]

Well, at least this isn't as bad as pardoning several high-profile killers, inviting them back to the country with open arms, installing them in diplomatic positions, indemnifying them through the constitution (for heaven's sake!), and using tax payers' money year after year to pay these freaks a salary.

But...it's bad nonetheless.