The International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) issued arrest warrants against Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, two expatriate war crime suspects of 1971, on Thursday. The three-member tribunal, headed by its chairman, Justice Obaidul Hassan, passed the order after taking into cognisance allegations against the two. It also asked the police to execute the order as soon as possible and submit a report by May 12. The two suspects have been living abroad since the independence of Bangladesh.
On April 25, the prosecution submitted formal charges against the two suspects, bringing 16 allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of Bangladesh. According to the prosecution, they were involved in the killing of intellectuals just before the independence of Bangladesh in December, 1971.
The ICT’s investigation agency had conducted inquiries into the allegations against the two suspects from September 25 to October 9 last year. Investigating officer Ataur Rahman carried out the investigation against Mueen Uddin, while investigating officer Mohammad Shahjahan Kabir conducted the probe against Ashrafuzzaman.
If the two suspects remain fugitive and the police are unable to produce them before the tribunal, they will be prosecuted in absentia, prosecutor Advocate Shahidur Rahman said.
Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman are widely believed to be the masterminds behind the killing of intellectuals just on the eve of the final victory on December 16, 1971, he said. Mueen Uddin stays in the UK, while Ashrafuzzaman is in the US.
As per evidence, Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman had played leading roles in the killing of intellectuals from December 10-15 in 1971, investigation officer Ataur Rahman said.
Mueen Uddin was the central committee member of the Islami Chhatra Sangha (the then student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami) in 1971. He also dabbled in journalism for some time.
“He briefly worked for the now-defunct Bangla newspaper, The Daily Purbodesh. Now, he is the chief executive of Muslim Aid, a British aid agency,” Rahman noted.
Investigating officer Shahjahan Kabir said Ashrafuzzaman was an active member of the Islami Chhatra Sangha and a top-ranking leader of Al Badr during the Liberation War. “He actively took part in the killing of intellectuals. We have found his involvement in different crimes against humanity,” Kabir added.
Ashrafuzzaman led the anti-Liberation forces to kill a number of Dhaka university teachers and journalists, including Munier Choudhury, Shahidullah Kaiser, Selina Parvin, Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury, Santosh Bhattacharjee and Nizamuddin.
Kabir said Ashrafuzzaman has long been living in New York. Ashrafuzzman is currently running an organisation, ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America), in New York, he added.
-with The Independent input
