ICT adjourns Azam case with fine

ICT-1 judges had cautioned the defence counsel before that it would not adjourn proceedings due to general strikes.

The first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh on Tuesday adjourned Jamaat-e-Islami guru Ghulam Azam’s case for the day with a fine of Tk 1,000.

The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal – 1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, had cautioned the defence counsel before that it would not adjourn proceedings due to general strikes.

A former Jamaat chief, Azam has been indicted for five war crimes charges including complicity, conspiracy and incitement. His defence is in the middle of summing up the case.

But the defence counsel remained absent on Tuesday, presumably due to a country-wide general strike enforced by the opposition, and filed for a day’s adjournment through another lawyer citing ‘personal difficulties’.

Prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum, the court’s order noted, “vehemently opposed” the petition. Malum pointed out that there were other lawyers engaged in the case and further that this was merely a tactic to delay the proceedings.

Malum said that if the tribunal so directed, the prosecution would make arrangements to have the defence brought to the tribunal and continue with the proceedings.

The prosecutor also prayed that the adjournment may be allowed with a fine of Tk 2,00,000.

The tribunal said that the grounds presented were “not satisfactory” but still allowed the prayer for a fine.

Jamaat Guru in ICT-1

On Dec 12, 2011, the prosecution brought a 52-point charter of charges against Azam and appealed for his arrest. Later, following the tribunal order, charges were re-arranged and presented to the tribunal on Jan 5.

He was produced before the tribunal on Jan 11 and sent to jail the same day. Since that evening, the 90-year old former Carmichael College professor has been kept at the prison cell of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University for better treatment considering his delicate health.

Ghulam Azam’s indictment hearing began on Feb 15 and the court charged him on May 13.

A former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, arguably the largest Islamist organisation in the subcontinent, Azam is allegedly among the key people who pioneered anti-liberation efforts in 1971 colluding with the Pakistani military junta of that time.

He is widely perceived to have been among the core group of right-wing supporters of the Pakistani Army, who came out strongly in support of a united Pakistan.

Ghulam Azam, then chief of Jamaat, was instrumental in setting up the infamous Peace Committee at the national level. The Razakars, an auxiliary force set up mainly to actively thwart the liberation forces, are said to have been mobilised through the Peace Committees across Bangladesh.

Among the most notorious vigilante militia are the Al Badr, whose membership is said to have been mainly dominated by the Jamaat's student wing called the Islami Chhatra Sangha at that time.

The Al Badr is alleged to have spearheaded execution of the intellectual elites of Bangladesh just days before the victory on Dec 16, 1971.

Azam also spoke in favour of Pakistan to the Middle Eastern countries during the war, according to the prosecution.

He stayed in London for seven years after 1971 and returned to Bangladesh in 1978 during BNP founder Ziaur Rahman's rule. Having led Jamaat for long, Azam retired from active politics in 1999.

His party remains a key ally of the main opposition BNP. Two Jamaat leaders, also behind bars for war crimes charges, have even served as ministers during the BNP's last tenure in government between 2001 and 2006, when Azam's party was part of the ruling coalition.

Azam was indicted on five charges — 61 counts — including incitement, conspiracy, planning and complicity on May 13, 2012.