Dhaka: The first prosecution witness of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) yesterday testified against a top suspect of 1971 war crimes two months after the suspect was indicted on 20 charges of "crimes against humanity" during the Liberation War.
Court officials and witnesses said a local commander of 1971 freedom fighters Mahbub-ul-Alam Hawladar appeared as the first witness since the ICT was constituted in March last year to try the Bengali-speaking perpetrators of 1971 war crimes.
He testified against fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hussain Sayeedi, who is the first indicted accused of the tribunal. Both hail from southwestern Pirozpur.
"Hawladar's deposition is under way and so far he narrated the background of Sayeedi's engagement with the Pakistani troops and their auxiliary and supporting forces," a prosecution lawyer told Gulf News.
The prosecution last month submitted a 90-page statement against Sayeedi before the three-judge tribunal headed by High Court judge Nizamul Haque.
Chief prosecutor Gulam Arif Tipu and senior prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman read out statement and brought the charges including genocide, rape, murder, arson and looting.
War criminals
Bangladesh in March last year constituted the high-powered three-member tribunal along with a special investigation agency and a prosecution cell in line with the election pledges of Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina's ruling Awami League to bring the war criminals to justice.
Five of the seven high-profile war crime suspects detained so far to face the trial belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami, while the rest two were of now main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia.
The other Jamaat leaders are party chief Moti-ur-Rehman Nizami, Secretary-General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Qader Molla.
The two BNP leaders are Salah Al Deen Qader Chowdhury MP and former minister Abdul Alim.
If convicted the accused could face either the highest punishment, the death penalty, or a minimum of 10 years in jail. Under the International Crimes Tribunal Act the convicts can file appeals before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court alone.
