The International Crimes Tribunal 2 Thursday rejected a petition filed by war crimes suspect Abdul Alim, a former state minister in Ziaur Rahman’s government, seeking more defence witnesses to testify for him.
On August 21, the tribunal passed an order allowing three witnesses to give deposition for Alim from a list of 3,328 people submitted by the defence. Alim, who was allegedly the chairman of Joypurhat district’s Peace Committee during the Liberation War, in the petition said they needed to more witnesses to prove his innocence.
Defence lawyer Tajul Islam said: “The tribunal’s order passed on August 21 limiting the defence witnesses to only three is not enough since the accused was facing 17 charges and the prosecution enjoyed producing 35 witnesses to prove the charges.” He prayed to increase the number to 17. Prosecutor Rana Das Gupta opposed the petition saying that there was no provision to allow such an application.
