The integrity of the ICT has yet again come under international scrutiny, after the ICT chairman claimed that The Economist had hacked into his private emails and Skype conversations with Ahmed Ziauddin, a Brussels-based lawyer. He has issued an order directing The Economist to explain their actions in order to avoid being charged with contempt of court.

Further details can be found here at David Bergman’s blog  and here at ICT BD Watch. A scanned copy of the tribunal’s order can also be found at ICT BD Watch here.

In addition, David Bergman, who has until now avoided criticising the trial directly after being warned about contempt of court himself, has begun to ask questions about the trial. In particular, he highlighted the dubious nature of the prosecution evidence including their failure to produce witnesses who were documented to have entered safe houses during the trial proceedings. He has also questioned the court for accepting the unsigned witness statements as evidence of war crimes in Sayedee’s trial, while refusing to admit the safe house registers as evidence despite appearing authentic. Significantly, he states, ” I have asked a number of independent international lawyers about the significance of all this – and they sugggest that this level of alleged chicanery on the part of the investigation/prosecution team would have raised, in most courts around the world, serious questions about the integrity of the whole trial process.”

These questions have been raised by supporters of the defendants for some time, but it is hoped that more attention will be given to them if highlighted by journalists such as Bergman.