Two new prosecution witnesses against Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali have said Chittagong’s Dalim Hotel was a torture cell during the Liberation War, where al-Badr forces tortured many pro-liberation people.
During their testimonies, the witnesses also accused Kashem as the leader of the cell where he inhumanly tortured people to force them to disclose information about the plans and locations of freedom fighters.
Fifty-seven-year-old Nazim Uddin from Chandgaon, submitted his deposition at the ICT 2 yesterday, saying he, along with his uncles and cousins, was picked up by al-Badr members on November 30, 1971, and taken to the Dalim Hotel where he saw tortured people.
“There I came to know that Mir Kashem was the leader of that camp; and luckily I was set free by him as my father requested him with the help of a man,” the witness said.
Another witness, Md Hasan, said he, along with his father and some other neighbours, was picked up by al-Badr men on November 29, 1971, and were taken in front of the NMC High School in Chandgaon like other prosecution witnesses. Although two trucks had been waiting to take away the detainees, Hasan was set free, as he was a child.
“The others, who were taken to the al-Badr camp in Dalim Hotel, told me later that it was a torture cell and situated in Chittagong city’s Andarkilla area,” the witness said.
After their deposition, defence counsel Mizanul Islam cross-examined them and the tribunal adjourned the hearing until March 3.
Meanwhile, the ICT 2 yesterday expelled one junior defence counsel for Mir Kashem Ali from the courtroom, as he was found to be trying to dictate his senior repeatedly which was hampering the proceedings. The tribunal had also cautioned him in the last couple of days.
During the cross-examination of Nazim Uddin, junior counsel Hasanul Banna was seen repeatedly trying to dictate Mizanul, who is his senior.
Following several attempts by the senior counsel to stop his junior from passing comments, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah ordered Banna to go out of the courtroom. However, Mizanul promptly sought mercy on behalf of his junior.
Later, the tribunal also ordered another defence counsel Mir Ahmed Bin Kashem, also the son of the accused, to move to the second row of seats from the first, after he broke into laughter at an answer of a witness, violating the norms of court. Kashem, who is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, was produced at the tribunal during the deposition.