Hasina and Asaduzzaman's Names to be Removed from Voter List

The names of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan will be removed from the voter list if they do not appeal within the stipulated time. The deadline for appeals is December 17.

Saturday at a workshop on election issues, Senior Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed said, "According to the law, the names of those convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal must be removed from the voter list. However, if they appeal, they wait until the appeal is resolved."

He further said, "If they do not appeal, their name will be automatically removed from the voter list after the specified time."

On November 17, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for crimes against humanity committed during the July Uprising. Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, another accused in the case, was sentenced to five years in prison for the same crime.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 chairman, Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumder, announced the verdict, convicting the accused on two charges of six criminal incidents.

The verdict also ordered the government to confiscate the assets of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 78, and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in favor of the state. At the same time, verdict also ordered to provide appropriate compensation to the families of martyrs of the July movement and physically injured protesters.

After verdict was announced, the tribunal's prosecutor, Gazi Monwar Hussain Tamim, told reporters that if an appeal is not filed within 30 days of the verdict, the convicts will not have the opportunity to appeal. Section 21 of the Tribunal Act provides the right to appeal to convicted defendants.

Subsection 3 of this section states that an appeal must be filed within 30 days from the date of conviction and sentence or acquittal or any sentence. No appeal will be admissible after this period has elapsed. And subsection 4 of section 21 states that the appeal must be disposed of within 60 days from the date of filing.

Meanwhile, Section 13 (d) of the Voters' List Act states that if someone is convicted of any crime under the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, his name will be removed from the voter list.

Election officials believe that it is unlikely that Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan will appeal. In that case, there will be a legal obligation to remove their names from the voter list after December 17.

Secretary Akhtar Ahmed also said at the workshop that a proposal has been made to amend the Representation of the People Order (RPO) again.