The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) registrar, AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud, on Wednesday admitted that the draft of the verdict on BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was leaked a few days before the court delivered it. He said that a general diary has been filed with Shahbagh Police Station in this connection. Chances of such incidents are almost impossible as all verdicts given by the war crimes tribunal are drafted at the tribunal. It is a matter of serious concern how parts of the drafted verdict were leaked and made available on the Internet, according to the general diary.
The ICT registrar, at a press briefing, said that the draft of the verdict in the war crimes case against SQ Chowdhury might have been stolen from the registrar’s office. He said the tribunal had launched an investigation as soon as the allegation of leaking of the draft verdict reached it. “We have asked the police to look into the matter and take legal actions against the conspirators,” he added.
Earlier, Justice Jahangir Hossain, one of the three judges of the ICT-1 that awarded the death penalty to SQ Chowdhury, termed the alleged leaking of the verdict as “a major conspiracy”. He also alleged that the family of SQ Chowdhury had paid “huge amounts of money” for leaking the verdict.
Hossain said the conspirators had shared the content of the verdict with several networks before the verdict was delivered at the court. “Those who are trying to create a controversy over the verdict in the war crimes case against Salauddin Quader are passing comments even without going through the full verdict,” he added.
He said the choice of words and language (of the verdict and alleged leaked version) are totally different. “Usually senior people give advice and their juniors carry them out. How could law ministry officials, who are of the rank of district judges, dictate us, the High Court judges? Are they more competent that we need them to write the verdict?” he asked.
On Tuesday, the ICT-1 gave the death sentence to BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for his involvement in war crimes. Soon after the sentencing of Chowdhury in the first-ever war crimes verdict on any BNP leader, the convict’s wife and other family members showed reporters on the court premises a document which they claimed was the leaked judgment. The verdict was retrieved from the computer of the law secretary and it was actually written by the law ministry, they claimed.
While Justice Hossain was speaking, chief prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo urged the court to take action against Bangladesh Bar Council vice chairman Khandker Mahbub Hossain for his statement on the ICT trial proceedings.
After the verdict was delivered, Khandker Hossain had said that everyone related to the war crimes trials would be tried. Seeking the tribunal’s attention to Mahbub’s statement, Tipoo said that those who are in the legal profession could not make such a statement.
The ICT-1 judge ordered the prosecution to file a written application with evidence on the matter.
Later, prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum said Salauddin Quader’s wife, son and lawyers had shown the alleged copies of the leaked verdict to the media before the tribunal delivered it. “They claimed that the verdict has already been published,” he added, demanding action against them.
Justice Hossain said that the court would look into the matter after the submission of a written application.
-With The Independent input
