The war crimes tribunal on Wednesday rejected bail plea of detained war crimes suspect Syed Mohammad Kaiser, also a Jatiya Party leader and ordered him to prison.
The second International Crimes Tribunal of Justice Obaidul Hassan, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge M Shahinur Islam justified the rejection by saying the step was taken to ensure fair investigation into the prosecution accusations against Kaiser, who also was the state minister for agriculture in 1989.
It ordered the prosecution to file a progress report by June 17 on their probe into Kaiser and for the case to proceed further.
Defence counsel SM Shahjahan filed a bail plea pointing out that the 73-year old was in a “poor physical status” and needed proper medical treatment. He also promised that Kaiser would hand over his passport to the tribunal if granted bail.
However, Prosecutor Rana Dash Gupta pointed out that the former state minister was “influential” in his locality and his release on bail would hamper investigations. He alleged that a witness was already killed after giving his statement against Kaiser to the investigation officer and that he should be kept in prison “for the sake of fair trial.”
An ICT probe is looking into the accusations against Kaiser. His force allegedly committed genocide, murder, rape, arson, looting and forceful conversion to Islam during the 1971 Liberation War. Kaiser lived in Madhabpur upazila in Habiganj district at the time.
“We have sought for arrest based on this (influence in his locality) ground. Now if the tribunal allows his bail, investigation would not go smoothly,” Rana added.
On May 15, the tribunal issued a warrant for Kaiser’s arrest based on a prosecution plea. The alleged peace committee leader of Habiganj was picked up from Vatara’s American Centre area two days later for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
Since his arrest, he has been kept under police watch at the Coronary Care Unit of Apollo Hospital.
Prosecutor Rana, however, considering the health condition of Kaiser, moved the tribunal asking for an order to the prison authorities to ensure necessary medical facilities for the arrested, which was obliged.
On May 29, 2010, the War Crime Facts Finding Committee handed over a list of 19 top war criminals including Syed Kaiser, to the International War Crimes Tribunal formed to try those involved in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
