The Cyber Tribunal yesterday deferred the hearing on charge framing in the case filed after a portion of draft verdict in BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s war crimes case was leaked.
Tribunal Judge KM Shamsul Alam reset February 24 to frame charges against seven accused – as the prosecution failed to produce them before court on security grounds. The court also rejected the bail petition of two accused—Mehedi Hasan and Nayan Ali.
Earlier, the tribunal had granted bail to SQ Chowdhury’s wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury and son Humam Quader Chowdhury upon a bond of Tk1 lakh for each with two guarantors.
On October 12 last year, the same court issued warrant for arrest of the accused after taking the charge sheet of the case into cognisance.
On August 28, DB Inspector Mohammand Shahjahan, also investigation officer of the case, submitted a charge sheet against seven persons to Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, mentioning 25 people as prosecution witnesses.
Of the seven accused, Farhat, Humam and Mehedi Hasan – an assistant to SQ Chowdhury’s lawyer – were shown fugitives in the charge sheet. Four other accused – Salauddin’s manager Mahbubul Ahsan, his lawyer Barrister AKM Fakhrul Islam, the tribunal’s Office Assistant Faruk Hossain and janitor Nayan Ali – are now in jail.
On October 1, 2013, the ICT 1 awarded SQ Chowdhury death sentence for committing crimes against humanity and genocide in Chittagong during the war.
Shortly after the verdict, his family members and defence counsels claimed that the verdict had been leaked before it was even declared.
