WAR TRIAL Mir Quasem’s indictment decision Aug 29

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali (centre). Star file photo

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali (centre).

A Dhaka tribunal will decide on August 29 whether it would frame charge(s) against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity in 1971.

Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal-1, fixed the date on Wednesday after hearing prosecution’s reply on discharge petitions filed by the defence.

On August 19 the defence lawyers placed arguments on their discharge petition.

On May 5, investigators said they found evidence of 14 wartime offences including genocide, murder and torture on woman by the Jamaat.

The 14 charges include arson and looting of valuables.

Later on August 26, the tribunal took the charges against the Jamaat leader into cognisance.

Detective Branch of police on June 17 last year arrested Quasem at the office of Bangla daily Naya Diganta at Motijheel after the ICT-1 issued an arrest warrant against him for his alleged crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War.

Earlier on April 24, the prosecution submitted a progress report against Quasem, a member of Jamaat central executive committee, before the court.

The investigation agency began the investigation on July 26 in 2010.

Source: The Daily Star