Mobarak charges proposed

Prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal 1 (ICT-1) on Monday proposed five formal charges, including murder, genocide, abduction, confinement and torture, against one Mohammad Mobarak Hossain accused of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

Prosecutor Sahidur Rahman submitted the 33-page-report before the tribunal.

ICT-1 has set Mar 11 for hearing as to whether the charges against Hossain, who is currently on bail, will be taken into cognisance.

Chairman of the three-member ICT-1, Justice ATM Fazle Kabir also extended Hossain’s bail term until that day.

Sahidur Rahman told reporters, “The formal charges against Mobarak Hossain have been submitted on Monday, set by the tribunal to do so. The tribunal has set Mar 11 for the hearing.”

After a probe that lasted for six months and seven days, the investigation agency told the tribunal that a team led by Shyamal Chowdhury found allegations including murder and genocide against Hossain.

These include murder of 33 people at Tanmandail and Jangail villages in Akhaura, torturing Ashu Ranjan Dev at the Anandamoyi Kalibarhi Razakar camp, murder of Abdul Khalek of Chatiana village, abducting two people from Shyampur village and killing one of them and confining one person from Kharampur village and torturing him.

The investigation agency’s 294-page probe report submitted on Jan 24 said these alleged crimes occurred between August and November of 1971 during the Liberation War.

It said Mobarak Hossain, son of Sadat Ali of Nayadil at Akhaura in Brahmanbaria, was a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s union unit there after the war. Later, he joined the Awami League, only to be expelled two years ago.

The tribunal on Oct 9, 2011, had sent him to jail in a case filed over a murder carried out in 1971. He was granted bail on July 16 last year, which has been extended several times since then.