The 10th prosecution witness against war crimes accused Jamaat leader Maolana Abdus Subhan yesterday said she had watched him, Khudu Kha and others abduct her cousin Osman during the Liberation War.
In her deposition, Sanwara Khatun, 56, from Ishwardi of Pabna also told the court that her cousin used to give shelter to freedom fighters; he never backed down even when Subhan ordered his men to torture him to death.
According to the charge in favour of which she testified, under Subhan’s leadership, one Khoda Box went to Betbaria and carried out a planned attack, setting houses on fire including those of Safiuddin and Sadek Ali and abducting people, who were tortured for three days to death. Their dead bodies were never found.
During cross examination, defence counsel Mizanul Islam said none of the incidents described by the witness ever happened and claimed that she was told to do so by the prosecution.
On the 12th day of the Bangla month of Kartik, Subhan along with other razakars came to Ramnathpur and surrounded their house, she said.
“Subhan captured my first cousin Osman and told him angrily: ‘I will teach you a lesson for giving shelter to the freedom fighters.’ Then they beat him and took him on a van.
“On that day, my uncle Shabed Ali and cousin Abed Ali went to Razakar Ishak but he did not want to listen. They kept the abductees confined for three days and then took them to the government bungalow in Ishwardi,” she narrated.
The witness claimed that she had heard from her father that the Razakars and the Biharis killed Osman upon Subhan’s orders.
She also claimed that she knew Subhan before 1971 because he came to their village for electioneering on behalf of Khudu Kha.
On December 31 last year, the first International Crimes Tribunal indicted Subhan on nine charges of crimes against humanity. On March 27 this year, the tribunal transferred the case to the second tribunal acting on a suo moto.
Meanwhile, the second tribunal fixed Thursday for the deposition of prosecution witnesses against Syed Mohammad Qaisar, another war crimes accused.
On February 2, the tribunal framed 16 war crimes charges against the former junior agriculture minister, who was accused for committing atrocious crimes in Habiganj during the Liberation War and also raising an auxiliary force by his name.
