The war crimes tribunal has set September 5 for passing an order on whether Jamaat-e-Islami executive council member, and key financier, Mir Kashem Ali will have to face trial or not.
Thursday was set for passing order on the formal charges. Hearing on both the sides has been complete, but the defence placed time petition so that their senior counsel could place arguments on the charge framing.
Moreover, tribunal Chairman ATM Fazle Kabir was not present.
Earlier on May 26, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 took the formal charges against the Jamaat leader into cognisance and scheduled June 27 for the indictment hearing. Following a plea seeking time, the hearing was deferred to July 18. The date was later rescheduled for August 7 and finally August 18.
The prosecution brought 14 charges of crimes against humanity against Kashem, who is the chairman of the Diganta Media Corporation. He is also a director of Islami Bank.
Kashem was the general secretary of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, and also the Chittagong district commander of paramilitary force al-Badr. He had set up makeshift camps at different locations of the port city where the pro-liberation supporters were brought and tortured. Other allegations against him include involvement in mass killings in Asadnagar and Panchlaish areas. According to the government, the Jamaat leader paid a US lobbyist firm $25m to make the trials controversial.
