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| Bangladesh |
| Prove innocence in war crime |
| 2009-05-12 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday summoned Jamaat leaders Ghulam Azam, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and 32 others to appear before it on July 20 to explain why they should not be declared war criminals for committing crimes against humanity during Bangladesh's liberation war in 1971. According to the court order, Jamaat's former ameer Ghulam Azam, incumbent chief Nizami, Secretary General Mojahid, senior BNP leader Salauddin, and the 32 other accused will also have to explain why they should not be disqualified from contesting in elections on charges of war crimes. The 32 other defendants include Jamaat's senior central leaders Abdus Subhan, AKM Yosuf, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Abdul Quader Molla, Delwar Hossain Saydee, Mir Kasem Ali, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Barrister Korban Ali, and Advocate Ansar Ali, and former BNP lawmaker Abdul Alim. The majority of the rest of the 32 are also leaders of Jamaat, the anti-liberation force, which was constitutionally banned immediately after the country's liberation in 1971, but it was allowed to resume political activities after the bloody August 15, 1975 regime change. The court's order sent the entire Jamaat hierarchy into a hectic damage control manoeuvring, with leaders frantically calling each other seeking advices on what steps they should take to save themselves from the long hands of the law, party insiders said. Jamaat's Senior Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman however told The Daily Star that the party's lawyers will take necessary steps in connection with the court summons. Jamaat Secretary General Mojahid told reporters yesterday that the case is baseless, adding that no Jamaat leader of any level is linked to any war crime, the case was filed with mala fide political intentions. On taking into cognisance a civil suit, filed on November 13 last year by three lawyers -- Mohammad Liton Miah, Mohammad Safayat Hossain Sajib, and Rajeeb Ahmad -- Judge Iftekhar Ahmed of the 9th Assistant Judge's Court took the matter for trial and issued the summons yesterday. The suit seeks to declare the defendants war criminals, barring them from contesting in elections. Now, the burden of proof lies on the defendants, who will have to prove themselves innocent of the charges. Thirteen of the defendants, who are already dead, will be exempted from personal appearance before the court, counsels of the plaintiffs said. The 13 deceased defendants include Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, ASM Solaiman, former prime minister Shah Mohammad Azizur Rahman, Advocate Mohammad Ainuddin, and Abdul Majid Talukder. Yesterday's court order follows the AL-led government's initiative to hold long due trials of war criminals of 1971 under the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act 1973. Many other criminal cases were also already filed in different parts of the country against war criminals, and some of the accused were already arrested in connection with the cases. In the wake of a tidal demand of all sections of the people, the immediate past caretaker government inserted a new provision in the Representation of the People Order, barring convicted war criminals from contesting in parliamentary elections. Before the ninth parliamentary election, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda assured Sector Commanders' Forum of collecting historical documents on trials of war criminals that had taken place between 1972 and 1975, in an effort to bar convicted war criminals from contesting in the poll. But the Election Commission (EC) failed to deliver on its promise, paving the way for many alleged war criminals to be able to contest in the December 29, 2008 parliamentary election, without any difficulty despite having widespread allegations of war crimes against them. During yesterday's hearing, lawyers of the plaintiffs submitted documents to prove the charges of war crimes against the defendants. They argued that the defendants were actively involved in war crimes during Bangladesh's liberation war in 1971, and they should be declared war criminals disqualifying them from contesting in any election. After the hearing, the court took the charges into cognisance for trial, as it found substantial evidence in favour of the charges. Advocates Delwar Hossain, Syed Ahmed Mostafa Rana, Khandaker Mohibul Hassan, Saidur Rahman Saju, and Abdul Mannan appeared for the petitioners. Within moments of the court's order, pro-Jamaat lawyers thronged the court to collect the case documents. The plaintiffs prayed that Ghulam Azam and the 35 others be declared war criminals for their involvement in genocide, rape, arson, pillaging, and for collaborating with the invading Pakistani army in 1971. They also prayed for barring all war criminals from forming any political party in the country, and for disqualifying them from participating in any election in the country. The plaintiffs also mentioned in their plaint that in the immediate aftermath of Bangladesh's liberation, Ghulam Azam and the 35 other accused were identified as war criminals, but are yet to be tried. The accused also killed a large number of intellectuals on November 14, 1971, the plaintiffs stated in their complaint. |
| Posted by:Fred |