The charge framing hearing against Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam which was scheduled for Wednesday was deferred till Thursday.
The International Crimes Tribunal 1 adjourned the proceedings since it was busy the whole day with the case against BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.
The prosecution on July 18 pressed six charges against Azhar that include mass murder, killings, rapes and arson.
According to the investigation agency, Azhar was an HSC student of Carmichael College during the 1971 Liberation War. He was involved in crimes against humanity as a member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat. Later he became part of the paramilitary al-Badr force which sided with the Pakistani occupation forces.
The charges say Azhar was involved in mass killing in Rangpur where around 1,225 people were killed during the war. He was also involved in killing four people, abducting 17, raping one, confining 12, torturing 13 people and looting and torching numerous houses in the district.
Azharul allegedly killed six lecturers of Carmichael College, including Chityaranjan Ray of Mathematics department; Shah Solaiman Ali of Urdu department; and Kalachand Ray of Chemistry department, as well as his wife.
The Jamaat leader was detained from his residence at Maghbazar on August 22 last year.
Meanwhile, the tribunal 2 had adjourned the deposition of Investigation Officer AZM Altafur Rahman in the case against former BNP minister Abdul Alim due to a technical problem with the tribunal’s computer.
Alim was arrested on March 27, 2011, and has been on conditional bail since March 31 last year.
As district Peace Committee chairman in 1971, Alim is accused of killing thousands of people in Joypurhat and committing other crimes against humanity.
