The International Crimes Tribunal 1 yesterday expressed its dissatisfaction towards the defence counsel of war crimes accused ATM Azhar, after it had to adjourn proceedings within only half an hour as the lawyer claimed he had to attend the hearing of another war crimes case against Syed Mohammad Qaisar at the ICT 2.
The ICT 1 began its morning session with the cross-examination of Idris Ali, the investigation officer (IO) of the case against Azhar, by defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder. However, after around half an hour of cross-examination, Tarafder said he had to attend the deposition of the IO at the hearing of the case against Qaisar, for which he was also the conducting counsel.
The tribunal expressed its dissatisfaction and adjourned the day’s proceedings saying the defence might not be allowed to cross-examine Idris Ali any more if it did not finish grilling the IO by Wednesday.
However, at the ICT 2, the IO of the case against Qaisar, Monowara Begum, was not present for her deposition yesterday. Tarafder, who left the ICT 1 early claiming he had to stand for Qaisar, also did not have to conduct the case as another senior counsel represented the war crimes accused.
In its hearing yesterday, the ICT 2 rejected a petition by the prosecution pleading to accept the statements of five prosecution witnesses – recorded by the investigation officer – as evidence against Qaiser.
In their petition, the prosecution mentioned that three of the five witnesses had died and the rest, including former social welfare minister Enamul Haq Mostafa Shahid, were bedridden. So, the prosecution failed to present them before the tribunal and pleaded for their statements to be accepted as evidence.
Prosecutor Rana Dasgupta placed his argument on the petition, while defence counsel SM Shahjahan placed his argument opposing the plea.
After hearing both sides, the tribunal observed that IO Monowara Begum had included the names of three deceased people as prosecution witnesses, even after knowing that they had died. The prosecutor apologised after the loopholes of the petition were pointed out by the tribunal, which also asked both the sides to be more helpful.
The ICT 2 then rejected the petition and set today for the IO to be presented before the tribunal and hold hearing on another petition by the prosecution seeking permission for submitting some additional documents.
