A tribunal dealing with crimes against humanity, committed during the Liberation War, has decided to hold the trials of Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, two fugitive al-Badr leaders, in absentia.
The three-member ICT-2, headed by Justice Obaidul Hasan, also appointed Abdus Sukur Khan and Salma Hai Tuni as defence counsels yesterday. Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge M Shahinur Islam are the other two judges of the special tribunal.
The decision and appointments were made according to the Rules of Procedure of the ICT Act, 1973: if any of the accused fails to appear before the tribunal within the timeframe, the trial process shall begin in his/her absentia.
Abdus Sukur previously represented the absconded leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Abul Kalam Azad, who was given the death penalty in January.
The tribunal on Monday also asked the prosecution to hand over all relevant papers to the defence lawyers by June 4, when further orders with regard to the case would be declared.
On May 2, the tribunal issued arrest warrants against the accused for their alleged involvement in the killing of intellectuals. The prosecution submitted the formal charges against them on April 25.
On May 11, the tribunal ordered the authorities to publish a public announcement in newspapers asking war crimes suspects Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman to appear before the tribunal within 10 days of publication.
According to Section 31 of the Rules of Procedure, the tribunal shall publish a notice in two national dailies, one in English and another in Bangla, asking the accused to appear before the tribunal on the date fixed there in. The notices were published on May 12 asking the duo to appear in court.
According to the prosecution’s submission, Mueen-Uddin was the “operation in-charge,” while Ashrafuzzaman played the role of “chief executor” of the al-Badr. The two men, who now reside in London and New York, were jointly involved in the killing of 18 intellectuals including Shahidullah Kaiser and Selina Parvin. Among 18 murdered intellectuals, nine were Dhaka University teachers, six were journalists and three were physicians, according to the probe report of the prosecution.
The prosecution brought 16 charges including rape, genocide, killing, looting, and arson against the two.
