The examination of prosecution witnesses has now ended, and despite a list of 2,939 witnesses willing to testify in defence of Ghulam Azam, the ICT has limited the number to 12. This clearly undermines the ability of the legal team to provide a robust defence, particularly as 16 witnesses were produced on behalf of the prosecution team. In addition, the tribunal rejected the petition for two expert witnesses for the defence, William Schabas, professor of International Law and Human Rights at Middlesex University and Jack Deverell, a former general with experience in Bosnia. No valid reason was given for this refusal by the court.

There has also been widespread speculation that the trial will be concluded by December 16th, Bangladesh’s ‘Victory Day’, thus providing more evidence that the trial has a foregone conclusion.