UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6: The United Nations human rights chief, Navi Pillay, expressed on Wednesday alarm at the death sentences handed out in Bangladesh to 152 paramilitary soldiers for their role in a 2009 mutiny.

She decried the sentences following reports that the soldiers were tortured and their mass trials fell short of human rights standards.

“The crimes committed during the mutiny were utterly reprehensible and heinous, and my sympathies are with the grieving families, but justice will not be achieved by conducting mass trials of hundreds of individuals, torturing suspects in custody and sentencing them to death after trials that failed to meet the most fundamental standards of due process,” said Ms Pillay.

She urged the government not to proceed with the death penalty, particularly given concerns about the fairness of the trials. “The perpetrators of the crimes must be held accountable in compliance with the laws of Bangladesh and the country’s international obligations, including those pertaining to fair trial standards, as laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Bangladesh ratified in 2000,” she said in a statement.

“The trial of these 847 suspects has been rife with procedural irregularities, including the lack of adequate and timely access to lawyers.”