The International Crimes Tribunal on Sunday disposed of the contempt case against prosecution witness Jahir Uddin alias Bichchu Jalal by cautioning him to not be involved with any disputed incident.
On May 27, Munshi Ahsan Kabir, one of the lawyers for death row war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, filed a contempt of court petition with the tribunal accusing Jahir Uddin of beating him in the capital’s Shegunbagicha area.
In the petition, Kabir alleged that Jahir attacked him and used abusive words because he was a defence lawyer.
Jahir’s attorney Md Mohsen Rasid claimed his client’s alleged assault on Mojaheed’s lawyer was “a fiction.”
On May 28, tribunal 2 issued a show cause notice to Jahir asking him why contempt proceedings should not be taken against him for assaulting a defence lawyer.
In reply, Mohsen told the court that his client was being framed in dubious plots because he was an important witness against Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed in war crime cases, and was set to give depositions against fugitive suspects Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan.
“This could be a strategic plan to discredit him [Jahir] in some way or the other, or it could be a case of mistaken identity,” he told the court.
While placing arguments, one of the defence attorneys M Tajul Islam said if this incident did not get importance, then the defence side would feel more insecure in future.
After hearing arguments from both sides, tribunal 2 passed the order on Sunday.
Only on July 17, the same tribunal pronounced a death sentence for Jamaat Secretary General Mojaheed for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
