A new prosecution witness against former Brahmanbaria Awami League leader Mobarak Hossain on Sunday said the accused and his accomplices had taken him to a Pakistani army camp with many other innocent villagers and tortured him.
Md Abdul Malek in his deposition told the International Crimes Tribunal 1 that Mobarak had taken them all on the suspicion of helping the freedom fighters.
The accused is facing five charges of crimes against humanity that include killing 33 people in Akhaura, torturing Ashuranjan Deb at a razakar camp, as well as abductions and killings in Shyampur between August and December 1971.
According to the formal charges, after the war Mobarak was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami’s union unit in Akhaura. He later joined the Awami League, but was expelled from the party two years ago.
The witness said: “I was a farmer. One month into the war, I went to Agartala [in India] for training. After my return, I acted as a guide of the freedom fighters. I also guided people who wanted to go to India for shelter.”
He added that one day in November 1971: “Mobarak along with his people captured us and took to Brahmanbaria Government College. They tied our hands with electric wires and beat us so brutally that I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I found myself at jail.”
The witness claimed that Mobarak had killed 20-25 unarmed villagers in the Comilla Khal area, only three or four days before the victory.
Mobarak had abducted people to Medda TB Hospital and taken blood from their bodies. “He took blood from me too. After that Mobarak came to Jail and separated 20-25 men from the rest who were killed on that night by the Pakistani army. He did not take me that day due to space limitation on the vehicle,” Malek said. After his deposition, the witness identified Mobarak sitting in the dock.
