Trial against absconding war crimes accused Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan Tuesday said Mueen was involved in the killing of intellectuals including Shahidullah Kaiser.
Testifying as the prosecution’s 14th witness, freedom fighter Shariatullah Bangalee, 64, said Mueen had formed “Razakar Bahini” with his family members during the Liberation War.
After his deposition, state defence counsel Salma Hai cross examined him. At the end of the proceedings, the tribunal 2, headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan, set today for deposition of new witness.
The tribunal jointly indicted Mueen and Ashraf in 11 counts of crimes against humanity. The charges include killing of 18 intellectuals, of whom nine were Dhaka University teachers, six journalists and three doctors. The prosecution alleged that Mueen was the “operation-in-charge” of al-Badr and Ashrafuzzaman played the role of “chief executor.”
The witness claimed that he had known Mueen from the very beginning of the war as his village home was in Jagatpur under Daganbhuiyan in Feni. He said father of the accused Delwar Hossain Chowdhury had a library at Daganbhuiyan Bazar. Mueen had visited the library and also held meetings as a leader of Chhatra Sangha.
The witness had received training in India, and on December 6, 1971 he had returned to his home district.
“The local freedom fighters in our area knew about the role of Mueen in the killing of intellectuals. So they raided his house at that time but did not find him there as he had fled the country just after the Liberation War.”
He said Mueen had later visited his village home several times during the tenures of Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad. “He used to visit his village with police escort,” the witness said.
He also identified Mueen as a reporter of the daily Purbadesh and leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. “Mueen financed and run an NGO named Muslim Aid in Feni and Daganbhuiyan. He also runs a madrasa at his house there.”
Witness Shariatullah said before the liberation war, Mueen had gone to Dhaka and enrolled in Dhaka University. “After the liberation, we came to know from newspaper reports that he was involved in the killing of intellectuals.”
