Prosecution on Thursday submitted formal charge against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Kashem Ali at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) about his alleged involvement in the crimes against humanity.
The tribunal-1, headed by its Chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, set May 26 to hear the cognizance matters against the Jamaat leader.Prosecutor Advocate Zead Al Malum submitted formal charge to the registrar’s office, implicating Kashem Ali in 14 allegations of crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.
Earlier, investigation agency of the ICT handed over its findings into the allegations against the Jamaat leader to the prosecution on May 6.
Regarding the allegations, prosecutor Advocate Rana Dasgupta said, the evidences suggested the accused person was directly involved in different crimes during the Liberation War.
“We have found his involvement in murder, torture, arson, looting and confinement,” he said.
Kashem Ali was also involved in conspiracy in home and abroad to thwart the trial of crimes against humanity, he added.
With regards to Kashem Ali’s involvement in the crimes against humanity, the other prosecutor Advocate Sultan Mahmud Simon said, he was the General Secretary of Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), the student association of Jamaat-e-Islami till the end of 1971, while Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid was its President.
As the ICS secretary, he led anti-liberation activities during the war in Chittagong, Simon said. Kashem Ali organised a torturing cell in Chittagong to punish the freedom fighters in the name of protecting Pakistan’s integrity.
“He turned Mohamaya Hotel (presently known as Dalim Hotel) into a torture cell in 1971. Apart from the freedom fighters, a large number of local people, mostly belonging to Hindu community and Awami League activists, were oppressed there,” he said.
He was also the President of Chittagong unit of ICS, Simon said, as a top ranked ICS leader, Kashem Ali guided the auxiliary forces— Razakar, Al Badr and Al Shams— to commit atrocities against the innocent people.
Kashem Ali was arrested on the allegations of 1971 crimes on June 17 last year.
-With The Independent input
