The United Nations has renewed its call on the Bangladesh government to immediately impose a moratorium on capital punishment and abolish the practice altogether.

In a statement issued in Geneva yesterday, Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the government should not implement death sentences awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal, "given the doubts that have been raised about the fairness of trials conducted before the tribunal."

The statement came in response to Sunday's execution of war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

"Similar concerns were expressed by UN human rights experts who, on several occasions, called on the government to halt the executions, as the trials did not meet international standards of fair trial and due process as stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a party," Shamdasani said.

The statement, however, mentions that the UN opposes death penalty in all circumstances, even for the most serious international crimes.