1971 Killing Of Intellectuals
Verdict in Ashraf, Mueen case on Sunday
The judges will on Sunday deliver the verdict in the war crimes case against absconding Al-Badr bosses Md Ashrafuzzaman Khan alias Nayeb Ali and Chowdhury Mueenuddin on 11 charges of killing 18 intellectuals in 1971. ‘We will deliver the verdict on Sunday,’ the presiding judge of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 Justice Obaidul Hassan announced Thursday at a full court hearing attended by two other judges, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah, and Justice Md Shahinur Islam.
On September 30, on completion of hearing both the sides, the judges kept the verdict reserved for pronouncement at a later date.
The two accused were tried in absentia.
This will be the ninth verdict in war crimes cases in the independent Bangladesh.
For the ICT-2 it would be the sixth verdict.
Better known as war crimes tribunal, the two ICTs were set up to bring the 1971 war crimes suspects to justice.
Established on March 25, 2010, the ICT-1 delivered verdicts in three war crimes cases until now.
Indicted on June 24, the trial of the two accused began on July 15 on the charges of kidnapping and killing nine Dhaka University teachers, six journalists and three physicians in Dhaka towards the fag end of the Liberation War.
The victims were Dhaka University teachers – Professor Mofazzal Haider Choudhury, Professor Munier Chowdhury, Professor Giasuddin Ahmed, Professor Sirajul Haque Khan, Dr Abul Khayer, Dr Faizul Mohiuddin, Professor Rashidul Hasan, Professor Anwar Pasha and Professor Santosh Chandra Bhattacharyya, journalists – Serajuddin Hossain, Syed Najmul Haque, ANM Golam Mostafa, Nizam Uddin Ahmed, Selina Pervin and Shahidullah Kaiser, and physicians Fazle Rabbee, Alim Chaudhury and Mohammad Martuza.
Mueen and Ashraf were tried under International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 on the charges of instructing, directing, leading and accompanying armed Al-Badr men in abducting the intellectuals at gun-point from their homes and killing them between December 11 and December 15, 1971.
Facing imminent defeat, Pakistan occupation army’s local collaborators, the infamous Al-Badr Bahini, picked up and killed leading Bangali intellectuals to cripple the new nation at birth.
Mueen is a native of Chanpur, a village under Daganbhuian upazila in Feni destrict.
Ashraf comes from Chhotabhatara, a village in Moksudpur police station of Gopalganj district.
In 1971, they were leaders of Jamaat’s erstwhile student wing, Islami Chattra Sangha, according to the prosecution.
In 1971, Mueen, a student of Bangla department of Dhaka University, worked as a Staff Reporter of the then Bangla daily Purbadesh.
Ashraf took his BA (Honours) in Islamic Studies from DU in 1970.
According to the prosecution, Mueen as the Al-Badr Bahini’s operation in-charge played a key role in eliminating Bangali intellectuals.
As the chief executioner of the dreaded Al-Badr Bahini, Ashraf took a leading role in eliminating the intellectuals, the prosecution said.
Mueen lives in London and Ashraf in the US.
During the trial stage 25 prosecution witnesses testified against the two accused.
None testified for Mueen and Ashraf, the ninth and 10th war crimes accused.
The prosecution expects the highest punishment prescribed in the law for the two accused, prosecutor Md Shahidur Rahman told a news briefing on Thursday.
He also said that the prosecution proved all the 11 charges against Ashraf and Muyeen beyond the reasonable shadow of doubt.
Mueen’s state defence lawyer Salma Hai Tuni, however, said that she tried her best to defend her client though she got help from him or his family members.
She expressed the hope that her client would get acquittal from all the charges.
Ashraf’s state defence lawyer Md Abdus Shukur Khan, during his closing arguments, claimed that the intellectuals were killed by Pakistan occupation army and not his client.
Shukur also expressed the hope that his client would be acquitted.
The designated was crimes investigators probed the war crimes charges against the two accused since September 25, 2011 and submitted the report to the prosecution on October 9, 2012.
On April 25 this year, the prosecution pressed 16 war crimes charges against the two accused.
On May 27, the tribunal decided to hold the trial in absentia and appointed two defence counsels for them.
Until now, the two ICTs convicted eight war crimes accused, six of them Jamaat leaders.
The ICT- 2 handed down death sentences to absconding former Jamaat man Abul Kalam Azad, Jamaat leaders Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
The Appellate Division handed death sentence to Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla by overturning his life term given by ICT-2.
The ICT-2 also sentenced BNP leader Abdul Alim to suffer imprisonment for the rest of his life.
The ICT-1 sentenced former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam to 90 years’ imprisonment, Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to death.
The trials of six other war crimes accused, Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, AKM Yusuf, Mir Quasem Ali, expelled Awami League leader Mobarak Hossain, are in progress.
The trial of absconding Nagarkanda mayor Zahid Hossain Khokon is due to begin on November 3.
Jamaat leaders Abdus Subhan, ATM Azharul Islam await indictment on war crimes charges.
The war crimes investigation agency has completed the probe against former Jatiya Party state minister Syed Md Qaisar and found his involvement in 1971 crimes against humanity.
-With New Age Input
