1971 Killing Of Intellectuals
Verdict on Ashraf, Mueen today
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 will today deliver its verdict amid tight security in the war crimes case against absconding Al-Badr bosses Md Ashrafuzzaman Khan alias Nayeb Ali and Chowdhury Mueenuddin for killing 18 intellectuals in 1971. The trial of the two accused took place in absentia. The police and other agencies have been instructed to put in place tight security in and around the court, ICT registrar AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud told New Age.
On June 24, Ashraf and Muyeen were indicted on 11 counts of crimes against humanity for abducting and killing 18 intellectuals, nine of them Dhaka University teachers, three physicians and six journalists.
The trial began on July 15.
On September 30, on completion of hearing both the sides, the judges announced that the verdict would be delivered later.
The two accused were tried in absentia.
This will be the ninth verdict in as many war crimes cases in independent Bangladesh.
For the ICT-2 it would be the sixth verdict.
Better known as war crimes tribunal, 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.
The notorious Al-Badr Bahini bosses picked up and killed 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 25 prosecution witnesses testified against the two accused.
None testified for Mueen and Ashraf, the ninth and 10th war crimes accused.
The designated was crimes investigators probed the war crimes charges against the two accused since September 25, 2011 and submitted their report to the prosecution on October 9, 2012.
Until now, the two ICTs convicted eight war crimes accused, six of them Jamaat leaders.
-With New Age input
