Nizam Ahmed, one of the friends of war crimes suspect Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, on Monday said the accused and some of his friends were in Pakistan during the 1971 Liberation War.
After his deposition, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 set Tuesday as the date for the cross-examination of the witness.
Earlier On July 1, Salahuddin Quader in his deposition at the tribunal – as the first defence witness – denied all the charges brought against him, and claimed that he had been in Pakistan from March 29, 1971 to April 20, 1974.
Nizam is the second witness for the BNP leader who is facing 23 counts of crimes against humanity he allegedly committed in the Raozan area of Chittagong during the war. There are three other witnesses to testify for Salahuddin Quader, a six-time MP.
In his deposition on Monday, Nizam told the tribunal that Quiyum Reza Chowdhury introduced him to Salauddin Quader at Notre Dame College during 1967-68. The accused then lived in Dhanmondi.
“In 1969, we participated in the mass uprising. When Asad was killed in front of Dhaka Medical College in 1969 we were standing hardly two feet away from him,” the witness said.
Salahuddin Quader had told the tribunal that he was 10 feet away from Asad when he was shot.
Nizam said: “On March 28, 1971, Quiyum and I started living with a Swedish family. That was the just two roads away from the house of Salauddin Quader. Then I came to know from Quiyum that he was with Salauddin at the airport when he left for Pakistan.”
The witness said on April 6 or 7 that year, he along with Quiyum and Salman F Rahman, travelled to Pakistan. They met the accused after one or two days. “After that day, I met with Salauddin Quader at Hotel Purbani [Dhaka] in April 1974. We never meet in those three years.”
The prosecution will cross examine him on Tuesday.
Earlier 41 witnesses gave depositions against Salahuddin Quader, a BNP standing committee member. He is the son of Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader Chowdhury.
