The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) on Sunday sent senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader AKM Yousuf to prison over allegations of crimes against humanity.
The three-member tribunal, headed by its chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, is expected to hear Yousuf’s appeal petition on Monday. The tribunal passed the order from the chamber of judges in the presence of prosecution and defence lawyers as the accused was taken to the tribunal at the end of the day’s proceedings.
The law enforcement agencies, in compliance with the tribunal’s order, produced the Jamaat leader before it at around 4pm after arresting him from his Dhanmondi residence. The veteran Jamaat leader was kept at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-2 office for a while after he was arrested at around 1pm.
The 84-year-old Yousuf is believed to be the founder of the Razakars, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army that committed massive atrocities against the Bengalis during the Liberation War in 1971. Advocate Saidur Rahman, Yousuf’s counsel, said they had filed an appeal application for the release of the Jamaat leader and the tribunal would hear arguments on the petition on Monday.
Earlier, the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against Yousuf in the morning session after taking the offences into cognizance.
The tribunal asked the law enforcement agencies to execute the order by May 26 and produce the accused person before it within 24 hours of his arrest. The law enforcement personnel arrested him hours after the arrest warrant was issued.
The prosecution submitted formal charges and sought an arrest warrant against Yousuf on Wednesday, implicating him in connection with 15 charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the country’s Liberation War.
Yousuf was accused of various crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, arson, confinement, forced conversion and deportation.
According to the sources, the investigation agency started its inquiry against the Jamaat leader on January 22, 2012 and completed it on April 21 this year. It handed over the investigation report to the prosecution on April 22. Yousuf played the leading role in the formation of Razakar, Al Badr and the so-called ‘Peace Committee’, formed to back the Pakistan government against the liberation movement of Bangladesh. He had been the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Khulna unit since 1957.
Yousuf, who was also the chairman of the Khulna Peace Committee, was selected the assistant ameer of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami during the Liberation War.
-With The Independent input
