UN Slams the 152 Death Sentences Passed by Court in Bangladesh!

ALAM DHAKA (AFP) - The United Nations right chief on Wednesday expressed "serious alarm" at death sentences passed by a Bangladesh court on 152 soldiers over the massacre of scores of army officers in 2009. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the crimes committed in the mutiny "heinous" and "utterly reprehensible", but faulted the mass trial.

A total of 74 people were killed during the two-day mutiny in Dhaka, including 57 senior officers. Some were hacked to death or burnt alive before their bodies were dumped in sewers or shallow graves. But Pillay added in a statement from Geneva that "justice will not be achieved" by conducting "trials that failed to meet the most fundamental standards of due process".

Bangladesh earlier on Wednesday defended the death sentences, insisting those convicted would have a chance to appeal and denying claims that confessions were extracted through torture. "The convicts have at least two tiers of appeal," said Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, a day after a court in Dhaka delivered its verdicts against 823 soldiers on trial over the mutiny.

Ms Pillay, however, called for an independent investigation into the allegations of human rights abuses, particularly custodial torture and killings after the mutiny. "The results of the investigation should be made public and those responsible must be held accountable," she said.