A new prosecution witness yesterday told the war crimes tribunal that he had been tortured repeatedly at an al-Badr camp situated in Daleem Hotel in Chittagong City during the 1971 Liberation War and accused Mir Kashem Ali was present at that time.
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, 66, a commando freedom fighter, submitted his deposition as the 16th prosecution witness. He was captured by the Pakistani troops and their accomplices in al-Badr force two days after the Eid-ul-Fitr and taken to the camp.
Jamaat-e-Islami Treasurer and key financier Mir Kashem is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity. He was allegedly the commander of al-Badr forces in Chittagong.
The witness said: “After some beatings, they locked me in a room of the camp where I met some known people including my younger brother Dastagir Chowdhury. At night, al-Badr members Nurul Afsar and Mir Kashem brought Shafiul Alam to our room. He was bleeding. As they left the room, some of the al-Badr members advised everybody to take lessons from his torture.”
“We learnt from one Swapan, who used to serve us food, that my captors have already killed many people in the camp and threw their bodies in Karnaphuli River.”
Jahangir also said juvenile Jasim, aged around 14-15 years, was brought to the room the next day.
Before being captured, Jahangir had gone to India in April and took training Chakulia, the witness said.
“Al-Badr man Afsar offered me to announce through radio that everything was under control and the freedom fighters could come back. But I disagreed.”
Then they tortured him and showed his injured body to the other detainees to scare them. Accused Mir Kashem was then present, Jahangir said.
During the cross-examination by defence counsel Mizanul Islam, witness Jahangir said he had no idea that the Mahamaya Building, which had later been known as Daleem Hotel, was under control of non-Bengali Biharis led by one Motya Gunda.
The International Crimes Tribunal 2 then adjourned the hearing until today for placing new witness.
Mir Kashem was arrested on June 17, 2012 at the daily Naya Diganta office in the city’s Motijheel area and has been kept at Kashimpur High Security Jail. He is the chairman of Diganta Media Corporation that also owns Diganta TV. According to the government, Mir Kashem had given a US lobbyist firm $25m to spread propaganda against the war crimes trials.
Bergman’s hearing March 27
The same tribunal yesterday fixed March 27 for hearing of Bangladesh-based British journalist David Bergman’s explanation over the alleged derogatory comments he made about the tribunal in his blog posts.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan passed the order after receiving the explanation. Bergman was present in the court room along with his family members.
Earlier the tribunal asked him to explain his critiques in person or by engaging a lawyer following a petition by Supreme Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad. The petitioner alleged that Bergman had “termed the tribunal’s claim of 30 lakh martyrs wrong.”