An elderly person told the war crimes tribunal yesterday that he had been tortured at Daleem Hotel during the Liberation War by the al-Badr members and its leader Mir Kashem Ali.
SM Jamal Uddin, 75, submitted his deposition as the prosecution’s 18th witness. Before that, the defence ended cross-examination of the 17th witness who testified on Thursday.
A businessman in Pathantuli of Chittagong, Jamal at the International Crimes Tribunal 2 said he had been abducted by some al-Badr members around 4:30pm on November 29, 1971. At that time, his brothers Kamal and Sarwar, and cousins Emran and Osman had also been picked up. On that morning, the al-Badr men abducted more people including Nurul Huda and Kuddus from Sabaghata.
“They took us to Daleem Hotel. At the entrance, I saw at least four dead bodies. When we prayed to Allah, the al-Badr men asked us to pray by the name of Indira Gandhi. And they insisted us to drink urine whenever we wanted to drink water.”
After three to four days, he had been taken to the third floor of the hotel where “I saw Mir Kashem and Shoeb Ali. Then they started to beat me up by hanging from the ceiling. They repeatedly asked me how much money I gave to the freedom fighters as toll.”
He said the accused had thrown him to the stairs from the third floor.
After his deposition, the defence cross-examined him. The tribunal will sit today for further witness.
Meanwhile, the same tribunal yesterday recorded the cross-examination of prosecution witness Mohammad Ali Tipu in the case against war crimes suspect Syed Mohammad Qaisar. Later the tribunal set Monday for further witness.
