The first war crimes tribunal rejected petitions by Delwar Hossain Sayedee for bail in two cases filed in Pirojpur and certified copies.
The two cases, according to the authorities, said Sayedee’s defence had been sent to the investigation agency and sought a directive from the court to be provided with certified copies.
The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal – 1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, convicted Sayedee on Feb 28 and sentenced him to death for two murders.
The two charges, both filed in Pirojpur, related to those two murders — one of Bishabali and the other of Ibrahim Kutti — for which Sayedee has already been convicted.
The defence lawyer told the court that the case investigator had admitted on the stand that these two separate cases proceeding under the penal code were under investigation.
Tribunal Chairman Justice A T M Fazle Kabir said the court did not have jurisdiction over penal code proceedings.
Both applications were rejected.
A Jamaat policymaker, Sayedee was sentenced on Feb 28. He was found guilty in eight out of 20 charges including murder, rape, arson, loot, abduction and persecution.
The defence is set to appeal against the sentence for which they have another week. The Appellate Division will then have to dispose of the case within another two months according to the law.
First case to trial
Sayedee’s was the first case to proceed to the trial stage in the war crimes tribunals. The prosecution on Sep 4, 2011 proposed framing 31 charges.
Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and Assistant Secretary General Mohammad Kamaruzzaman are behind bars on war crimes charges. Jamaat financier Mir Quasem Ali was also arrested on similar charges and the investigation continues.
BNP MP and Standing Committee member, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, also behind bars, was indicted for 23 charges on Apr 4.
Former BNP lawmaker and minister Abdul Alim is the only one out on bail. All cases have entered the trial phase while one Jamaat Assistant Secretary General, Abdul Quader Molla, and a former Jamaat member Abul Kalam Azad have already been sentenced.
Source: Bd news24
