The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh reportedly sentenced Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan to death following a trial conducted in abstentia. The men were found guilty of “‘aiding, abetting, instructing, ordering, encouraging and providing moral support to’ the killers of the 18 people . . . who supported the independence movement.” The Tribunal found that the victims were executed to “paralyze the nation” by killing the “most notable intellectuals belong to different professions.” Both men currently live in the UK and the US, respectively.

In a separate case, the same Tribunal reportedly sentenced 152 members of the Bangladesh Rifles, a paramilitary border security force, to death for their involvement in a “2009 mutiny in which several thousand troops took control of their headquarters, demand[ed] better working conditions, and killed scores of people.” In connection with the same event, another 256 people were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, and 161 were sentenced to life in prison. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, stated that the mass trial “failed to meet international law standards.”