Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday said the defence for death row convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee submitted a fake document to prove that Sayedee was not involved in the killing of Ibrahim Kutti.
The defence earlier entered a document what they claimed was a certified copy of the complaint made by Kutti’s wife, Momtaz Begum, where Sayedee’s name was not mentioned as an accused. The complaint later turned into a police case, as per the defence’s claim.
He told the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court that it was a fake as there is no such case lodged with Pirojpur police station.
In this regard, the attorney general said: “I went to the Pirojpur police station but found no such document. As the defence claimed that police submitted a charge sheet in the case, it would have been transferred to the special tribunal formed under the Collaborators Order. I went to Barisal Judge’s Court but did not find such case despite a thorough search.”
“In addition, the defence could not submit a copy of the charge sheet.”
He said the copy of the complaint looked fresh though it is supposed to be 41 years old. “It is more proof that the document was forged and made for the purpose of saving Sayedee only.”
Mahbubey was assisted by Assistant Attorney General Bashir Ahmed during the hearing at the five-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain.
Refuting Sayedee’s alibi plea, the attorney general said the notorious razakar had undoubtedly stayed at Parerhat, Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War, according to the prosecution witnesses.
Though the defence witnesses claimed they had seen Sayedee at a Pir’s house in Jessore with his two sons, it was clear from Sayedee’s affidavit submitted to the Election Commission that the Jamaat leader had only one son before independence, he said.
Sayedee’s second son was born after the independence, as per the said affidavit. Mahbubey also said none of the Pir’s descendents gave a deposition at the tribunal, even though they are alive.
“So it was crystal clear that Sayedee was in Parerhat and aided the Pakistani Army to commit crimes against humanity,” the attorney general said.
Mahbubey later told the Dhaka Tribune that his argument was near its end.
Defence lawyer Tanvir Ahmed Al-Amin told the Dhaka Tribune that they would start rebutting the government’s argument after the attorney general completes his part. The bench will resume the hearing today.
The International Crimes Tribunal 1, on February 28 last year, handed Sayedee a death sentence on two charges, one of which was killing Kutti.