A prosecution witness on Thursday said fugitive war crimes suspect Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan had been directly involved in the abduction and killing of his father, journalist Nizam Uddin Ahmed.
Forty-six year old Shafkat Nizam said he had heard about the abduction from his mother, grandparents, uncles and aunts. They used to live at 12/C, Rokanpur.
He told the International Crimes Tribunal 2 that his father was abducted on December 12, 1971. “We all were having lunch. At that time, some people knocked on the door. As soon as the door was opened, a few armed persons rushed in and called out my father’s name,” said the 23rd prosecution witness. His father got up from the dining table and identified himself to the armed persons, who asked to see his identity card.
“At one moment, father showed his ID card and then he was taken away. As my mother was following them, they asked her not to,” he said.
“Later, we heard from our neighbours that my father was taken by a mud-covered microbus. There were more people blindfolded and hands tied in the microbus.
“Through news reports in different media, we became sure that the abduction of my father took place by the al-Badr members led by Ashrafuzzaman and Mueen Uddin,” he added.
“Before being abducted, my father heard about the abduction of martyred journalists Siraj Uddin Hossain, Syed Nazmul Haque and ANM Golam Mostafa along with other journalists. I heard that he wrote reports on those abductions as well,” the witness said.
Journalist Nizam used to work with BBC Bangla and Pakistan Press International in 1971. “He was targeted despite being an official of a Pakistani press because he used to report on the Pakistan army’s atrocities and the successful operation of the freedom fighters in popular BBC Bangla,” said his son.
Pleading justice for all the martyred intellectuals, Shafkat also submitted that they did not get his father’s whereabouts until late.
Ashraf’s IO testifies
The investigator officer, the 24th prosecution witness, in the case against Ashrafuzzaman on Thursday said he had gathered enough evidence to prove the involvement of the accused with the killing of intellectuals in 1971.
Shahjahan Kabir submitted in the tribunal 2 of Justice Obaidul Hasan, Justice Mojibur Rahman Miah and Justice Shahinur Islam that during the investigation, he had found that Ashrafuzzaman had another name – Nayeb Ali Khan. The IO got the name from Gopalganj district magistrate who upon request sent him details on the accused and the list of property of his relatives.
Ashrafuzzaman is now living in New York with his family, said the witness. He also submitted to the tribunal a letter from Police Headquarters sent on April 25 last year that mentioned the address of the accused. “Bangladesh Police got the address with the help of Interpol. He [Ashrafuzzaman] left Bangladesh just after the country’s independence,” Kabir told the tribunal.
The officer said he had taken deposition of 21 witnesses, visited and taken photographs of the affected areas during his investigation.
He seized and submitted photocopies of 130 newspaper clippings and a number of relevant books on Liberation War including Dhaka Muktijuddho (Liberation War in Dhaka), Ekattorer Judhdhaporadhira Ke Kothae (Where are the 71’s war criminals) and al-Badr.
His collected documents state that Ashrafuzzaman was a non-resident student attached with Mohsin Hall of Dhaka University in 1971. In 1964-65, the accused was an HSC student of Shiddheshwari Degree College.
Later, the defence counsel for Ashrafuzzaman started cross-examining Kabir. The procedure remained unfinished since the tribunal was adjourned until September 15.
