The prosecution in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami started closing arguments on Sunday, accusing him of committing crimes against humanity in Pabna and Dhaka during the 1971 Liberation War.
Conducting prosecutor Mohammad Ali placed his arguments in front of the International Crimes Tribunal 1. The prosecution will continue the arguments on Monday.
The Jamaat chief was indicted on May 28 last year on 16 counts of crimes against humanity including murder, rape, arson and inciting violence.
Deposition of the fourth and last defence witnesses ended on October 30. A total of 25 prosecution witnesses including the investigation officer have testified at the tribunal against Nizami.
After the prosecution began the arguments in the second half on Sunday, the prosecutor said he would place arguments in four different parts: historical background; the role of Jamaat during the Liberation War; evidences; and legal points. The tribunal then asked him to skip the historical background and start from the second part.
Justice Jahangir Hossain said: “You may start from your second part as we did not allow any prosecutor to place the historical background. We will keep that part in record.” Then the prosecutor started from the definition of Jamaat and the role of al-Badr as a militia force during the war. He also mentioned the interviews of Syed Haider Farooq Maududi, son of Jamaat founder Syed Abul A’la Maududi, and told the tribunal how this man had denied Jamaat and placed criticism against the political party.