The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Monday indicted Al Badr operators Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan in absentia for their ‘involvement’ in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
Passing the order, the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan, set July 15 for starting formal trial by making opening statement by the prosecution and asked the prosecution to submit the list of its witnesses for examination, dismissing the state appointed defence lawyers’ discharge petitions.
Before framing charges against the duo fugitive accused, the tribunal considered 11 charges trimming the remaining four offences as proposed by the prosecution which fall under sections 3(2) (a) (b) (g) (h) and 4 (1) and 4(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.
*The charges include abduction, confinement, persecution, killing and murder of intellectuals of the country at the fag end of the Liberation War.
Since Bangladesh’s independence, war crimes accused Mueen Uddin has been living in London while Ashrfuzzaman in the USA, according to the prosecution.
According to the prosecution case, Mueen and Ashraf, the duo operators of Al Badr, a vigilante group of Jamaat-e-Islami created from it’s the then student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), had perpetrated the war crimes in a bid to eliminate the pro-liberation, innocent and unarmed people of occupied Bangladesh. They had also hatched a conspiracy in collaboration with the Pakistan junta to eliminate the intellectuals before the birth of a new nation.
Advocate Shahidur Rahman appeared for the prosecution while Abdus Shukur Khan and Salma Hye Tuni stood for the fugitive accused as state defence counsel.
Source:UNB Connect
