Verdict on Kamaruzzaman on Thursday

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 will deliver verdict on Jammat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman on Thursday.

Headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan, the second war crimes tribunal fixed the date on Wednesday.

On Apr 16, the tribunal finished hearing the case involving the Jammat Assistant Secretary General.

ICT–2, set up to expedite war crimes trials, had indicted Kamaruzzaman on Jun 7 last year on seven counts of crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

On July 29, 2010 police detained the Jamaat leader and two days later, put him under arrest in a case involving crimes against humanity during the war.

He faces charges of murder, genocide, and torture.

So far, the two tribunals have delivered three verdicts. In the first verdict, former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad, also known as Bachchu Razakar during the Liberation War, was sentenced to death.

In the second verdict Jamaat’s Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla was sentenced to life and in the third, the party’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death.

Charges against Kamaruzzaman

The tribunal took the formal charges into cognizance on Jan 31, 2012 and the trial began on June 4 the same year.

According to the charges placed by prosecution, Kamaruzzaman was Acting President of Mymensingh district unit of Islami Chhatra Shangha, then the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, during war.

He established AL-Badr, a paramilitary force that helped the Pakistani army in 1971, in the district by recruiting members from Ashek Mahmud College at Jamalpur on Apr 22, 1971.

The force was involved in genocide, killing, rape, looting, arson, and deportation of people in the greater Mymensingh district including Jamalpur, Netrokona, Kishoreganj, Sherpur and Tangail, said the prosecution.

Killing of Badiuzzaman

Led by Kamaruzzaman, the Al-Badr captured Badiuzzaman, son of Fazlul Haque of Kalinagar at Nalitabari in Sherpur, from Ramnagar on Jun 29. Later he was tortured and shot dead on the road at Ahammadnagar village and his body was dumped in the river.

Torture of Lecturer Abdul Hannan

Kamaruzzaman and his associates captured the then Lecturer of Islamic History at Sherpur College Syed Abdul Hannan in one afternoon of May. His head was shaved, his body and face was coloured with ink and lime, and then he was made to walk down the street of Sherpur town while being whipped naked.

Genocide at Shohaghpur

On July 25, 1971, planned and advised by Kamaruzzaman, the Pakistan Army, aided by Al-Badr and Razakar, surrounded Shohagpur village at Nalitabari in Sherpur and killed 120 men and raped women of the village.

Murder of Golam Mostafa

The Al-Badr captured Golam Mostafa on Aug 23, 1971 and kept him confined to the force's camp on Kamaruzzaman's orders. Mostafa's uncle Tofael Islam had requested Kamaruzzaman to set free his nephew. But the Al-Badr took Mostafa and another man named Abul Kashem to the Sherry bridge in the area.

Mostafa was killed, but Kashem survived by jumping into a river after being shot at hand.

Killing of eight

Members of the Al-Badr captured Liakat Ali and 11 others from Chawkbazar at Sherpur in the middle of a Ramadan month during the war. All but three were shot dead in presence of Kamaruzzaman.

Repression of Didar and others

The Al-Badr picked up one Didar and several others and took them to the Mymensingh district bungalow in November 1971. They were tortured till they agreed to speak in favour of Pakistan.

Killing of five

The Al-Badr members had surrounded the house of Tepa Miah on the 27th day of Ramadan and killed his son and four others following the orders of Kamaruzzaman.