Rights experts decry advocacy of Jamaat’s British legal adviser to impose sanctions

A number of Bangladesh's leading rights activists decried the advocacy by British lawyer Toby Cadman – who was engaged by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as its legal advisor in 2011 – to impose sanctions.

The admission of Toby Cadman, as reported by Al Jazeera on December 6, 2022, points to yet another plot "to mislead the world on Bangladesh on the human rights issue" through lobbyists, they added.

Cadman admitted to Al Jazeera to his efforts to get the UK to impose sanctions against Bangladesh's law enforcement officials and expressed disappointment that it did not work out.

"I filed the request for sanctions and whilst I am not in a position to discuss the substance, I can confirm that I discussed the request with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)," Cadman was quoted as saying, referring to the UK Foreign Office.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami engaged Toby Cadman as its legal advisor in London in 2011, after the trials of several top Jamaat leaders started – over war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

Advocate Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, commented that after four decades of wait "the current troublesome situation, as regards to Cadman's requests for sanction, points to a larger conspiracy overseas by Jamaat against the Sheikh Hasina-led government."

Referring to huge public support behind the trials of war criminals, as materialised by the Awami League government, Dasgupta, who leads the country's largest minority rights platform, said, "Top war criminals, who were brought to justice, belonged to Jamaat and the trial, that offered some solace for millions of victim families who lost their loves ones during the violent war crimes campaign, surely upset that entire cabal. The desperate group hired lobbyists in powerful countries to unsettle the Sheikh Hasina-led government so that these war criminals can evade justice."