An adviser to the BNP chairperson on Tuesday declared to prosecute the persons involved with the trial of party leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury for war crime charges if the party was voted to power.
“If BNP comes to power, the fictional war crimes cases will be dropped. Everyone related with this trial must be prosecuted one day on the soil of Bangla,” Khandker Mahbub Hossen said at a press briefing of the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum.
Giving his immediate reaction Khandker Mahbub claimed that the war crimes trial was a farce and initiated out of political vengeance. Khandker Mahbub is a defence counsel for Jamaat leaders Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Abdul Quader Molla at the International Crimes Tribunal.
After the briefing, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Law Secretary Jashim Uddin Sarkar said without Mahbub’s declaration to prosecute those involved with the war crime trials the press briefing would have been a flop one. Senior BNP leader Moudud Ahmed, said: “We are shocked at the death penalty given to BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.”
He said: “BNP always wants trial of those who committed crimes against humanity in 1971. But the prosecution must be of international standard, which we believe were not applied in the case of Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.”
Moudud said an appeal against the verdict would be lodged with the Appellate Division. “We believe the apex court will acquit him,” he added.
BNP Standing Committee member Rafiqul Islam Miah and former speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar also spoke at the press briefing moderated by BNP Joint Secretary Mahbub Uddin Khokon.