One of Britain’s most important Muslim leaders is to be charged with war crimes in Bangladesh, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported on Sunday, reports UNB.
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, director of Muslim spiritual care provision in the NHS, a trustee of the major British charity Muslim Aid and a central figure in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, fiercely denies any involvement in a number of abductions and “disappearances” during Bangladesh’s independence struggle in the 1970s.
He says the claims are “politically-motivated” and false.
However, Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, the chief investigator of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), said: “There is prima facie evidence of Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin being involved in a series of killings of intellectuals.
“We have made substantial progress in the case against him. There is no chance that he will not be indicted and prosecuted. We expect charges in June.” Mr Mueen-Uddin could face the death penalty if convicted, the newspaper said quoting Abdul Hannan Khan.
Quoting Law Minister, Shafique Ahmed, the daily said, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin was an instrument of killing intellectuals. He will be charged, for sure.”
Mr Mueen-Uddin, then a journalist of the Purbodesh newspaper in Dhaka, was a member of a fundamentalist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, which supported Pakistan in the war. In the closing days, as it became clear that Pakistan had lost, he is accused of being part of a collaborationist Bangla militia, the Al-Badr Brigade, which rounded up, tortured and killed prominent citizens to deprive the new state of its intellectual and cultural elite, the newspaper said.
Since moving to the UK in the early 1970s, Mr Mueen-Uddin has taken British citizenship and built a successful career as a community activist and Muslim leader.
Source: The News Today