Two foreign citizens visiting the Metropolitan Court in the capital and inspecting the court custody, along with their request to meet two Awami League leaders, has created a stir. As part of their work for a project funded by Germany and the European Union, they spoke with detainees and relevant individuals in the jail on Wednesday afternoon.
Multiple court sources said that upon going to the jail, they spoke with detainees to inquire about their conveniences and inconveniences. Like other detainees, they also spoke with former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s advisor Salman F Rahman and former Law Minister Anisul Huq, who are currently in jail.
The in-charge of the jail, SI Zayed, said, “Two foreign NGO workers visited the court on Wednesday. At that time, DC (Prosecution) Tareq Zubayer Sir and several magistrates from the CMM court were present.”
A police report stated that representatives of GIZ visited the Dhaka District Court. “Access to Justice for Women” is a joint project of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Law and Justice Division, and GIZ Bangladesh. The project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union, works to increase access to justice for the poor and helpless, especially women and marginalised communities, resolve disputes at the community level, and reduce case backlogs through fair case management.
The main goal of this project is to ensure access to justice for the poor and marginalised communities, especially women and deprived sections of society. The project’s three main components are: strengthening legal aid, gender-sensitive dispute resolution, and case management. The project is being implemented in 7 districts (Dhaka, Barishal, Cumilla, Khulna, Moulvibazar, Narsingdi, and Rangpur).
Matthias Giegerich, Head of Asia, Pacific, Latin America & Caribbean Region, GIZ, and Project Head Martina Burkard visited the Dhaka District Court on Tuesday to inspect the project’s work. The main purpose of the visit was to observe the project’s activities in the Dhaka District Courts and to hold direct discussions with the District Legal Aid Office officials and relevant court officials.
Regarding this matter, Deputy Commissioner (Prosecution) Tareq Zubayer said, “Two foreign NGO workers visited the court on Wednesday under the ‘Access to Justice’ project. They did not meet with any specific accused in the jail. They only conducted an inspection.”
