Counsel for Matiur Rahman Nizami, charged with committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, Thursday completed quizzing the 4th prosecution witness (PW).
Advocate Mizanul Islam, counsel for Nizami, cross-examined the witness for the second day. After he completed the cross-examination, the tribunal adjourned the hearing till April 25.
The 4th witness, Habibur Rahman Habib, testified against Niazmi on April 16, accusing the incumbent Jamaat chief of ordering his subordinates to kill Habib's father.
"My father was killed by the Al-Badr cadres in front of our home on October 14, 1971. I was able to capture Azizul, one of the members of that killing mission on December 19, 1971, and he confessed to me that they killed my father on Nizami's order," he said on his testimony.
Habib also alleged that one Kochimuddin Mowlana, the then head mowlana of Pabna Zilla School, along with two others were killed during the War of Liberation in the presence of Nizami.
The 56 year-old witness from Pabna, Nizami's home district, said Nizami, the then president of Al-Badr, had raised the auxiliary force, which created havoc in the locality coincided with the Pakistani occupation army.
"Pakistani occupation army alongside the Al-Badr cadres raided Nazirpur and Hemayetpur union of Pabna on one day of November, 1971. Failing to capture any freedom fighters, they killed 175 innocent civilians on that day," the witness said.
After his deposition, advocate Mizanul Islam quizzed the witness for the first time on that day.
The incumbent Jamaat chief was indicted on May 28, last year, on 16 counts of crimes against humanity including murder, rape, arson and inciting violence.
Meanwhile, the first tribunal also adjourned the hearing of the trial of Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury till April 21, accepting a plea of Chowdhury's counsel.
