War Crimes Trial

PWs' illness halts proceedings till Sunday

Ninth PW cross-examined

4 January 2012, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

Abdul Latif Hawlader, the tenth prosecution witness, could not testify before the International Crimes Tribunal yesterday in a case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee as he was ill. As the next prosecution witness Mokhles Poshari was also not feeling well, the tribunal decided to adjourn the proceedings till Sunday next week within minutes of resuming after the lunch recess. As a result, the day's proceedings ended at 2:35pm, around one-and-half hours earlier than the usual time. Earlier, Sayedee's defence counsels had finished cross-examining Altaf Hossain Hawlader just before lunch break at 1:00pm. David Re, a judge of the special tribunal for Lebanon situated at The Hague, was present at the tribunal yesterday to observe the proceedings. Kafil Uddin Chowdhury and Manjur Ahmed Ansari, counsels of Sayedee, cross-examined the 58-year-old Altaf, who had testified against the Jamaat leader on Tuesday in the case filed in connection with crimes against humanity committed during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Sayedee, Nayeb-e-Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, is among five Jamaat and two BNP leaders facing war crimes charges at the tribunal. Kafil Uddin began the examination at 11:01am by asking the witness about his profession. Altaf replied that he was a farmer. Altaf was later asked about the present and past price of Urea fertiliser. He said the present price of 50kg fertiliser is Tk 1,000 while it was Tk 700 some six months back. The counsel then claimed that none of the two prices are true, and Altaf is not a farmer as he had told the court. The witness denied the claim. Answering other questions, Altaf later said he did not take part in the liberation war and he did not know the commander of the collaborators' force in Parerhaat during the war. At one point, Kafil Uddin tried to tell witness Altaf that he [Altaf] could not write his name neatly and properly with correct letters. The tribunal intervened saying the court cannot accept such a “harassment question,” adding that a “question has to be dignified”. Counsel Kafil Uddin told the tribunal that Altaf had never studied in a school, contrary to he told the court on Tuesday. Altaf said it was not true. The counsel then read out a list of 15 people from Pirojpur and asked the witness whether he could identify any of them. The list included several journalists, writers, lawyers, a social worker and a teacher from Pirojpur. Altaf said he recognised some of the names but did not know about them. Counsel Kafil Uddin told the witness that these people had interviewed witnesses of the liberation war in Pirojpur and wrote a book titled “Pirojpurer Itihas” (the history of Pirojpur) with the accounts they had collected. He asked the witness whether any of those people or anyone else on behalf of them had interviewed him between 2003 and June 2007. Altaf said he could not remember. The counsel then claimed that Altaf knew that the book lists the names of the collaborators of Pirojpur, and he was keeping it to himself as the book does not mention the name of Delawar Hossain Sayedee. The witness said it was not true. At 11:59am, Majur Ahmed Ansari, another counsel of Sayedee, took over and claimed that the allegations he brought against Delawar Hossain Sayedee were "false." He suggested that Bisha Bali, who according to Altaf, was killed following instruction from Sayedee, was actually killed in Baleshwar river ghat by the Pakistani soldiers on a different day and time. He also said Sayedee was not in Pirojpur from before the liberation war to mid July of 1971. The witness rejected the suggestions. Ansari then concluded the cross-examination at 12:59pm by saying that Altaf does not have a profession. He suggested that Altaf made a "false statement" in a "false case" to publicly humiliate Delawar Hossain Sayedee under the directives and advice of local Awami League leaders of Pirojpur, to receive benefits from the government. Altaf Hossain Hawlader said the suggestions were not true.