The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) 1 on Tuesday turned down a petition by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury seeking permission to submit an additional document, a sworn affidavit by the mother of a defence witness.
In an affidavit Zinnat Ara Begum, 85, mother of Justice Shamim Hasnain said she met the accused in early May 1971 when he came to Islamabad and stayed with her at her government residence for two to three days.
According to the information she met him again in August of the same year at Punjab University’s New Campus Hostel when she went to meet her son in Karachi
Defence counsel Barrister Fakhrul Islam said to prove his client’s innocence the document was important when he submitted the application to the tribunal.
Prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum opposed the petition and argued the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 did not allow sworn affidavits from relatives of defence witnesses to be submitted.
In his own defence Salauddin Quader says he was in Pakistan from March 29, 1971 to April 20, 1974. He rejects the charges brought against him for crimes against humanity, which he says were politically motivated.
The son of Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, the detained BNP leader Salauddin Quader is facing 23 charges that he is alleged to have committed in Chittagong during the Liberation War in 1971.
Meanwhile in ICT 2, the accused Jahir Uddin Jalal, known as Bichchhu Jalal yesterday appointed an attorney for his defence.
Jalal who is one of the prosecution witnesses against the Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad
Mujaheed, is alleged to have attacked one of Mujaheed’s defence counsels.
His plea to the tribunal was for a date to place his statement about the alleged incidence. Accordingly the tribunal set July 29 for the hearing.
However, Jalal said he was unhappy with the statement given on his behalf to the tribunal by his counsel, Md Mohsen Rashid on Monday.
On May 27, Barrister Munshi Ahsan Kabir filed a contempt of court petition with the tribunal where he alleged Jalal attacked and abused him because he is a defence lawyer for Mujaheed.
In his submission, Jalal’s defence attorney told the tribunal his client is being framed as part of a dubious plot because he is an important prosecution witness.
He said: “This could be a strategic plan to discredit him [Jalal] in some way or other, or it could be a case of mistaken identity.”