The defence of war crimes accused ATM Azharul Islam yesterday ended questioning prosecution’s second witness Mostafa Miah who placed his deposition on Monday.
In his statement given at the tribunal 1, Mostafa said during the Liberation War, Azhar – then a commander of al-Badr, and the Pakistani army had taken her wife to Rangpur Town Hall, a torture cell for women, and tortured and raped her causing a miscarriage.
During the cross-examination, defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder asked Mostafa about his wife’s pregnancy. He suggested that his wife was six months’ pregnant when she had been confined. The witness answered in the negative and said she was two months’ pregnant.
Tarafder said his testimony was false saying that the prosecution made him to say all these. The witness answered: “It is not true.”
Mostafa was also quizzed about the geographical location of his home. The defence tried to prove that there was no neighbour named Rahman during the war, rather it had been a paddy field.
Later the defence started grilling the prosecution’s third witness, Moklesar Rahman Sarker, son of martyr Mamtaz Ali from south Ramnathpur of Badarganj in Rangpur. He testified at the tribunal on Wednesday. As Tarafder was sick, he could not question the two witnesses earlier.
The defence started cross examining him after lunch break. Later the tribunal adjourned the proceeding until Sunday keeping it unfinished.
On the contempt matter regarding New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), the tribunal 1 asked Asaduzzaman, counsel for the HRW, to submit their reply without any affidavit. The HRW counsel earlier pleaded to the tribunal that the rights watchdog wanted to submit the reply upon authorisation by its attorney Dinah Pokemner.