The International Crimes Tribunal 2 on Wednesday set August 1 to deliver its decision on the charge framing against Jamaat-e-Islami leader AKM Yusuf, the alleged founder of the razakar force that sided with the Pakistani occupation army during the 1971 Liberation War.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan fixed the date after hearing both the defence and the prosecution on the charges.
The prosecution on May 8 brought 15 charges of crimes against humanity – including genocide, rape, abduction, confinement, torture and conversion of Hindus in the Khulna region during the war – against the senior nayeb-e-ameer (equivalent to vice-president) of Jamaat.
The defence appealed for Yusuf’s acquittal from the charges because he had been arrested after Bangladesh’s independence and later received general amnesty.
The defence argued that had Yusuf been involved in crimes against humanity, he would have been prosecuted that time.
The tribunal also fixed August 1 to pass the order on Yusuf’s bail plea and directed the jail authorities to submit a health report to the tribunal on July 30. The defence filed the petition on Monday.
The prosecution charged Yusuf, 84, with the murder of eight people and the mass killing of 700 others, looting 300 houses and 400 shops and forcing 200 Hindus to convert into Islam.
On April 22, the tribunal’s probe agency submitted its report to the prosecution after an investigation into the alleged crimes of Yusuf, who hails from Rajair Kaliarpar under the Sarankhola upazila in Bagerhat.
The investigators claimed that the accused formed the razakar force on May 5, 1971 at an Ansar camp on Khan Jahan Ali Road in Khulna with 96 Jamaat activists. He also formed peace committees in every sub-division, police station and union in Khulna.
The case was transferred to tribunal 2 from tribunal 1 on July 1 for quick disposal.
The Jamaat leader is now in the Kashimpur prison. The tribunal on July 3 ordered jail authorities to provide comfortable transport for the accused.
He was arrested at his Dhanmondi residence in the capital on May 12.