Two brothers testified at the war crimes tribunal yesterday in the case against Rangpur district al-Badr commander ATM Azhar and accused him of torture during the 1971 Liberation War.
Rafiqul Hasan Nannu, the 12th prosecution witness, said because of the torture by Azhar, he had become handicapped. He said: “I was tortured only because of my involvement with the politics of Bangladesh Chhatra League at that time.”
Azhar, the incumbent assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, faces six charges of crimes against humanity. He was indicted on November 12.
“On December 1, 1971, I went to Betpotti area in Rangpur town from where Azhar took me to their Central Road camp. There Azhar and his cohorts whipped me with electric wire for at least three hours making me unconscious,” Nannu told the International Crimes Tribunal 1.
“As they thought me dead, they left my body at a corner of a room. My elder brother Sazzad Zahir rescued me from the camp with the help of one Nasim Osman, a non-Bangalee who was also a leader of Pakistan People’s Party. But before that, when my brother came for my rescue, Azhar denied to free me,” he added.
Nannu corroborated the deposition of his younger brother Sakhawat Hossain Ranga, who testified as the 11th prosecution witness in the morning session.
Ranga described the reason of his brother’s abduction, confinement and torture.
On a day of mid-November in 1971, when Nannu had been playing with his friend in front of their house, accused Azhar was passing by. The accused slapped him for chanting “Joy Bangla” slogan. “Our family was afraid since then as Nannu was involved with the Awami League,” Ranga said.
After their depositions, defence counsel Abdus Subhan Tarafder asked them one question each and the tribunal adjourned the hearing until today to cross examine the brothers.
In the beginning of yesterday’s session, the prosecution submitted an application pleading for making a minor correction in the sixth and final charge against the accused saying that input of a date had been missing when the tribunal framed the charges.
In his submission, prosecutor Zead-al-Malum said the tribunal could easily make the correction by its inherent power. On the other hand, defence counsels deferred with the prosecution and pleaded for reviewing the indictment order. Without accepting or rejecting the plea, the tribunal kept the matter in record.
