Crimes Against Humanity
ICT order on several petitions March 13
The International Crimes Tribunal will pass orders on March 13 on several petitions, including a discharge petition submitted by BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury in connection with a case accusing him of committing crimes against humanity during 1971.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Md Nizamul Huq fixed the date after both the prosecution and defence completed their arguments on the petitions yesterday.
Salauddin also submitted petitions seeking bail in the above-mentioned case, asking to be transferred from Gazipur's Kashimpur Jail-2 to any other prison and praying to carry out the tribunal proceedings following international covenants.
He filed another petition seeking order upon the investigation team to provide him a report on the latest status of six cases filed against him from January 29 to April 18, 1972 under the Penal Code and the Collaborators Act 1972.
The petitions were filed in February and the current month.
The Collaborators Act 1972, enacted to try collaborators of the Liberation War in 1971, was revoked through the Fifth Amendment to the constitution but reinstated through the Fifteenth Amendment, said the defence counsels.
This made way for “double jeopardy”, meaning double trial for the same offence, which is forbidden by the constitution, they said.
Prosecutor Zead Al Malum argued that though the six cases were filed, the verdicts are yet to be delivered. He appealed to the tribunal to frame charges against Salauddin.
Chief Counsel for Salauddin, Ahsanul Haq Hena, yesterday argued that without the latest status of the six cases being known to the defence and prosecution, it would be difficult to argue on the issue of “double jeopardy”.
He pleaded for adjournment of the proceedings of the cases for seven or ten days to ascertain the latest status of the cases.
Malum said they did not mention any of the six cases in the formal charge they submitted to the tribunal and it is not the stage to provide information about the cases.
Salauddin, a lawmaker from Chittagong, was present at the dock throughout yesterday's tribunal proceedings. He is among two BNP and six Jamaat-e-Islami leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the tribunal yesterday deferred the hearing on charge framing against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami and Abdul Quader Molla.
The tribunal fixed today to hold hearing on charge framing against Quader Molla and exempted him from personal attendance for his illness today.
It will hold the hearing on charge framing against Nizami tomorrow.
The tribunal will also pass an order today on a petition submitted by former Jamaat-e Islami ameer Ghulam Azam seeking permission to receive home-cooked food in his prison cell at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
Ghulam Azam was shifted to the cell after he was sent to jail on January 11 on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
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