Detained ICT employee confesses
Barrister AKM Fakhrul Islam, counsel for war crimes convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and four to five more persons were involved in leaking the draft verdict, a day before the verdict was pronounced, said Noyon Ali, a detained staff of the tribunal.
The revelation came when Ali, who was arrested on October 4 for his alleged involvement with the leakage, gave his confessional statement before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate in Dhaka on Thursday.
Of the involved persons, Noyon only mentioned the names of three.
They are: advocate Mehedi Hasan, Fakhrul’s assistant; Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s manager (name is not mentioned); and Faruk Hossain, an office staff of the International Crimes Tribunal’s registrar office.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 awarded death penalty to BNP leader SQ Chowdhury on October 1 for committing wartime offences during country’s Liberation War in 1971.
Soon after the tribunal sentenced the verdict, his wife and other family members claimed on the court premises that the verdict was leaked.
Source: The Daily Star
