War Crimes Trial
Decision on charge framing against Sayedee on Oct 3
The International Crimes Tribunal will decide on October 3 whether it will frame war crime charges against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
After hearing arguments on charges submitted by the prosecution yesterday, the three-member tribunal headed by its Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq fixed the date.
Defence counsel Tajul Islam told The Daily Star that the tribunal will either frame charges against his client or exonerate him of the allegations of crimes against humanity committed during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.
During the hearing, prosecutor Syed Haider Ali told the tribunal that they submitted formal charges with sufficient evidence last month to frame charges against Sayedee.
There are chronological descriptions in the formal charges on the offences committed by Sayedee during the liberation war, he said, adding that there is no legal bar on the tribunal in framing charges against him based on formal allegations.
There might be confusion over the exact dates of the offences committed by Sayedee 40 years ago, but the confusion will be gone when witnesses give their statements after the court frames charges against him, Haider Ali said.
Sayedee's counsel Tajul Isam told the court that the formal charges submitted by the prosecutors against his client are totally vague, since they failed to show Sayedee's involvement in the crimes, and their specific place of occurrence.
The tribunal cannot frame charges against Delawar Hossain Sayedee on the basis of vague allegations, he added.
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