Former Muslim League leader Mohammad Abdul Jabbar has been awarded imprisonment until his natural death, though he deserved capital punishment, for committing crimes against humanity, including killings, loot and arson, in Mathbaria of Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War, says a war crimes tribunal.
In its verdict delivered yesterday, the three-member International Crimes Tribunal 1, led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim, said for the offences Jabbar, 82, had committed, he deserved death penalty. But the punishment was committed to life-term imprisonment considering his age.
Jabbar, also a former Jatiya Party lawmaker, has been fugitive since 2009 while the prosecution and the investigation agency of the tribunal are unaware of his whereabouts.
The tribunal yesterday ordered the home secretary and the police chief to ensure the arrest of the fugitive convict with the help of the Interpol, if necessary.
Earlier two war criminals were given jail until death due to their old age. The convicts are former BNP minister Abdul Alim and former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam.
Apart from Jabbar, four other death row convicts have been absconding. They are Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar, Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, Ashrafuzzaman Khan and MA Zahid Hossain Khokon alias Khokon Razakar.
Jabbar was also made accused in a case filed under the Collaborators Act after the independence. But he went into hiding after the war and remained a fugitive until the political changeover of August 15, 1975.
Later he became active in politics and was elected a lawmaker from Mathbaria in 1986 and 1988 with Jatiya Party tickets.
“...we cannot overlook the advanced age of the accused, the mitigating factor, which has come up before us for its due consideration.
“Undisputedly, accused Md Abdul Jabbar engineer is now an old man of more than 82 years. Mitigating factor of advanced age, particularly more than 82 years of the accused is taken into consideration by this tribunal for taking lenient view in the matter of awarding punishment to the accused. Having regards to the above facts and circumstances, we are of agreed view that ends of justice would be met if mitigating punishment is awarded, instead of capital punishment, for the crimes,” the tribunal said in the judgement.
The two other members of the tribunal is Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Anwarul Haque.
Jabbar was found guilty in all the five charges brought against him. He was given imprisonment until death on four charges and 20 years’ jail on the other that involves conversion of around 200 Hindus to Islam.
Founder of Mathbaria unit Peace Committee and Razakar Bahini, Jabbar aided the Pakistani occupation forces in committing the crimes, the tribunal said.
He was sentenced to imprisonment for life for the deaths of two freedom fighters – Abdur Razzak Biswas and Motaleb Sharif, and arson attack on over 100 houses at Phuljhuri of Mathbaria; for ordering his accomplices to shoot Sarada Kanta Paik to death and set 360 houses on fire at the same village; for his involvement in the killing of 11 people and looting and torching 60 houses at Naligram; and for the abduction of 37 Hindus from Angulkata and Mothbaria, killing 20 of them and looting the houses of the victims.
Jabbar was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 20 years and a fine of Tk10 lakh, in default to suffer further simple imprisonment for two years, for forcefully converting around 200 people of a Hind para of Phuljhuri village.
“The five sentences shall run concurrently,” the tribunal said.
Son of late Saden Ali alias Samed Ali Hawlader and late Sawhar Banu, Jabbar was born on November 30, 1932 at Khetachira village of Pirojpur. He obtained BSc engineering degree and joined the politics of Muslim League. Later, he became an influential leader of the party and was elected an MPA in 1964.
Jabbar was indicted on August 14, 2014 and the tribunal concluded the trial proceedings on December 3 last year and kept the case waiting for verdict.
The prosecution submitted the formal charges against Jabbar on May 11 last year. On May 12, the tribunal issued arrest warrant against him after taking the charges into cognisance. On July 8 last year, the tribunal appointed Mohammad Abul Hassan as counsel to defend Jabbar.
A total of 24 prosecution witnesses testified against Jabbar. The defence did not place any witness in favour of Jabbar.
The tribunal yesterday set at 11:07am and started to read the judgement just after three minutes.
In the beginning of the court’s procedure, Justice Rahim said he had been appointed as the tribunal chairman the same day last year. It is the fifth judgement under his chairmanship. The same tribunal pronounced three more verdicts before Justice Rahim took office.
The judgement said: “Jabbar was the chairman of Mothbaria Peace Committee during the Liberation War in 1971 and under his leadership many atrocious activities were taken place.
“From the evidence of eye witnesses and documentary proof it has revealed that the accused had directly participated in the commission of offences of mass killing in addition to aiding, facilitating and abetting the members of auxiliary forces to have committed atrocious acts during the Liberation War.”
The tribunal said: “Having considered the attending facts, legal position and the gravity and magnitude of the offences, committed by accused Md Abdul Jabbar Engineer, we unanimously hold that the accused deserves the capital punishment, particularly in those four charges.”
Jabbar had formed the Mathbaria unit Peace Committee being invited and instructed by the leaders of its central unit, the tribunal said. Thereafter, he along with his followers started committing atrocious acts accompanied by the Pakistani invading forces in the locality.
The verdict said the local razakar force had been formed under Jabbar’s leadership with 150-200 members people. “He rendered an appointment to his relative Iskander Mridha as the commander of that unit.”
On May 16 of 1971, Jabbar held a rally on the playground of Tushkhali High School and ordered the collaborators to bring to him Abdur Razzak and Motaleb Sharif (trainer of freedom fighters) dead or alive. In line with the order, the armed razakars held the two freedom fighters and killed them.
According to a witness, Jabbar always instigated his followers to launch war on the Hindus. “He used to say ‘Hindu’s wealth and properties are for plunder and so the Muslims can use them. If the Hindus want to live in this country, they will have to become Muslims.’”
On October 6 of 1971, about 40-50 razakars led by Jabbar went to Angulkata village and detained 37 Hindus. Out of them, five were released in exchange for money while 22 persons were killed by gun shots.
The Hindus of Paik Bari under Phuljhuri village were converted to Islam in the last week of May. They were given Muslim names and forced to eat beef. Later the razakars established a mosque in the area and forced the Hindu women to marry Muslim men, the case says.
Sarada Kanta Paik was killed upon Jabbar’s order while attempting to flee away on May 17. The collaborators also torched around 360 houses belonging to Muslim and Hindu families after looting.
On May 22, Jabbar shot dead Sokhanath Kharati in Naligram village while his accomplices, under his order, killed 10 others. Around 60 houses of the local Hindus were looted and set on fire the same day.
After the pronouncement of the verdict, prosecutor Jahid Imam said they were expecting death penalty for Jabbar since all the charges had been substantiated successfully. “But we obey the judgement. We will decide about filing appeal after receiving full text of the verdict,” he added.
State-appointed defence counsel Abul Hasan said he had failed to communicate with Jabbar during the trial proceedings. “I failed to prove Jabbar innocent as I did not have proper documents in connection with the case.”
Hasan said he learnt from government’s documents that Jabbar had been staying in the USA.