The war crimes tribunal on Thursday gave the prosecution another 16 days to submit formal charges against Syed Mohammad Kaiser, who had been involved with various political parties during his political career.
The International Crimes Tribunal 2 gave the order after prosecutor Rana Dash Gupta submitted a plea for extra time. On Thursday was originally scheduled as the date for the submitting of the formal charges.
Earlier, on September 22, the investigation agency of the tribunal brought 16 charges against Kaiser for his alleged involvement in the crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War in Habiganj.
The probe agency charged him with committing genocide, murder, rape, abduction, confinement, torture, looting, arson and extortion.
Kaiser was arrested on May 16, just one day after the tribunal had ordered his arrest. He was admitted to a private hospital in the capital. The tribunal later granted him conditional bail considering his age.
According to the probe report, Kaiser was a Convention Muslim League leader during the war and a local Peace Committee leader and razakar commander. He also formed “Kaiser Bahini” to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation army and committed various crimes.
Kaiser fled to London after Bangladesh gained independence in 1971 and returned in 1975. In 1979, he took part in the national elections as an independent candidate and was elected as a lawmaker. He then joined the BNP. During the regime of military dictator HM Ershad, Kaiser joined the Jatiya Party and became the state minister for agriculture.
