Salauddin Quader Chowdhury makes one of his trademark gestures at the international crimes tribunal.
The International Crimes Tribunal Wednesday said that the draft of the verdict on BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was leaked few days before the court delivered it.
A general diary has also been filed with Shahbagh Police Station in this connection in the morning, ICT registrar AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud made the revelation during a press briefing at the tribunal premises.
None however has been arrested yet.
Earlier in the morning, ICT-1 that awarded death penalty to Chowdhury for war crimes has termed the alleged “leak” of the verdict as “a major conspiracy” involving a huge amount of money.
“The conspiracy was to make the tribunal controversial,” Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim, a member of the three-man panel of the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that held Chowdhury’s trial, said at the court.
Soon after the tribunal sentenced Chowdhury to death in the first-ever war crimes verdict against any BNP leader Tuesday, the convict’s wife and other family members showed newsmen on the court premises a document that they said was the leaked judgment.
The verdict was retrieved from the computer of the law secretary and that it was actually written by the law ministry, they claimed.
Talking on the claim of the BNP leader’s wife and defence counsels that the verdict was dictated one, the registrar said: “It’s not true.”
The tribunal, immediately after the allegation of leaked verdict was brought, launched an investigation to find out who is involved with it, the registrar said adding that they are yet to suspect anyone.
Meanwhile, about the claim, which remained talk of the town due to its quick sharing on different social networking websites, Justice Jahangir Hossain said that there was a deliberate move to make the tribunal controversial.
He took a few minutes before starting the war trial proceedings of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami to pass his statement regarding the judgement leak claim.
“How easily people were deceived!” he said in a show of surprise at the claim that the verdict was drafted at the law ministry and was exactly the same one which was read out at the tribunal.
“Those who are trying to make Salauddin Quader’s verdict controversial are issuing comments without going through the full verdict.
“The choice of words and language (of the verdict and alleged leaked version) are totally different,” he pointed out.
“So far we have seen that the elder ones advise and their disciples carry out those. How come the law ministry officials who are of the rank of district judges dictate us, the High Court judges?”
“Are they more competent than us that we should need them to write the verdict?” he asked.
Source: The Daily Star
