Charge framing deferred in SQ Chowdhury verdict leak case

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A Dhaka Cyber Tribunal yesterday deferred the charge framing hearing in the case filed over the alleged leak of the draft verdict in Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s war crimes case.

Tribunal Judge KM Shamsul Alam deferred case proceedings until October 5 after hearing time petitions by both the defence and the prosecution.

In the time petition, the counsel for BNP leader SQ Chowdhury’s wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury mentioned that his client could not appear before the court because of illness.

The prosecution also filed a time petition as one of the accused – Mahbubul Ahsan – was not produced before the tribunal as he was suffering from tuberculosis in jail.

The other charge sheeted accused in the case are SQ Chowdhury’s son Hummam Quader Chowdhury, his manager Mahbubul Ahsan, his counsel Barrister AKM Fakhrul Islam, advocate Mehedi Hasan, and International Crimes Tribunal employees Nayan Ali and Faruk Hossain.

War criminal SQ Chowdhury’s wife Farhat and son Hummam are now out on bail while Mahbubul, Fakhrul, Nayan and Faruk are behind bars. The remaining accused, Mehedi, is on the run.

On August 28 last year, DB Inspector Md Shahjahan, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted a charge sheet against the seven accused in the case.

On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 awarded SQ Chowdhury death sentence for committing crimes against humanity and genocide in Chittagong during the Liberation War.

Shortly after pronouncement of the verdict, his family members and defence counsels told media that the verdict had been available on a few websites.

Later, a case was filed against Nayan, Faruk, Mahedi and some unidentified persons with Shahbagh police station under the ICT act.

Source: bdnews24