A Birangana (war heroine) in Satkhira has expressed her satisfaction following an International Crimes Tribunal verdict on Thursday that awarded death sentence to former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Abdul Khaleq Mondol.
Safura Khatun, 65, hailing from the Baikari Union of Satkhira Sadar, was also a witness in the case filed against Khaleq for committing crimes against humanity including murder and rape in 1971.
Her husband, late Muntaz Sardar, was dragged out of the home in 1971 by the Pakistani military aided by Khaleq razakar, she recalls. He returned home, after days of torture. The barbaric military also tortured her.
Safura said: "I had a three-day-old baby girl in my lap on the day my husband was captured.”
She said that her mother-in-law tried to save her when Khaleq had wanted to take her away forcibly.
“Had I not gone with them, they would have killed my husband,” Safura said.
The men tortured her at the house of one Shariatullah Sardar in the area.
“At one point, I fainted but still they continued to torture me,” Safura said.
“I would have beheaded Khaleq had I got my hands on him,” she said.
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The war heroine said that she had managed to save the life of her husband but the torture made him crippled. The couple had to beg to raise their children.
Safura was made the witness number seven in the war crimes case against Khaleq.
She complained that, despite her great sacrifice, she had not been given the Freedom Fighter status.
“Ever since I testified at the tribunal against Khaleq, Jamaat leaders have been issuing death threats against me and my children,” Safura said.
The Birangana said that she also had not got due respect from society because of the government’s reluctance to recognize her.
In 1971, former Jamaat leader Khaleq was the organizer of local razakar forces in Satkhira.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1, chaired by Justice Md Shahinur Islam, sentenced Khaleq and another war criminal, Khan Roknuzzaman, to death for committing murder and rape in Satkhira during the Liberation War.
The prosecution had charged the two with a total of six counts of crimes against humanity, all of which had been proved at the court.
