Four Pakistan collaborators of Kishoreganj to hang, another gets prison until death

A war crimes tribunal has handed down death sentence to four Razakars of Kishoreganj and prison until death to another.

These five were found responsible for abductions, torture and killings to help Pakistan to abort Bangladesh’s birth in 1971.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal headed by Justice Anwarul Haque delivered the verdict in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Only Kishoreganj lawyer Shamsuddin Ahmed among the convicts was present in the dock when the judgment was read out.

His brother retired army captain Md Nasiruddin Ahmed, Razakar Commander Gazi Abdul Mannan, Ajharul Islam and Hafiz Uddin are all fleeing from justice.

All of them, except Ajharul Islam, have been given the death penalty.

The trial had brought up the crimes against humanity they committed at a number of villages in Kishoreganj’s Karimganj Upazila during the Liberation War.

Their counsel said they will appeal against the verdict as they did not get justice.

The prosecution said they were pleased with it.

The convicts now have one month to move the highest court.

The court in its verdict said the government would be able execute those awarded the death penalty by hanging or shooting them until they are dead.

It has also ordered the home secretary and the inspector general of police to take the initiative to arrest the fugitive convicts, and seek assistance from the Interpol if needed.

Right after the judges finished reading out the verdict, Shamsuddin Ahmed, the only convict present in court, said, “False witness, false judgment... Verdict based on fake witnesses.”

However, as he was speaking in very low volume, it was not clear whether the judges heard his protest from the dock at the end of the courtroom.

Then he was taken to the tribunal’s lockup. Some of his family members were also present in the courtroom.

The sentences

All five were accused in charges 1, 3, and 4 brought by the prosecution for abduction, torture in captivity, and murder.

Nasiruddin was accused of killing under charge 2, Shamsuddin of murders under charge 5, Mannan of abduction, torture in captivity, and murder under Charge 6 and arson under Charge 7.

Charge 1: The killing of eight and wounding of another of Bidyanagar and Ayla villages of Kishoreganj’s Karimganj from 1pm to 5pm on Nov 12, 1971.

Sentence: Death penalty for Shamsuddin, Nasiruddin and Mannan. Imprisonment until death for Ajharul and Mannan.

Charge 2: The murder of Miah Hossain of Ayla Village on Nov 13.

Sentence: Death penalty for Nasiruddin.

Charge 3: Abduction and murder of Karimganj Upazila’s Md Abdul Gafur at Khudir Jungle Bridge on Sep 26.

Sentence: Death for Hafiz. Prison until death for Shamsuddin, Nasiruddin and Ajharul. Mannan acquitted.

Charge 4: The abduction of Md Fazlul Rahman Master and his confinement to a bungalow used by Peace Committee as their office. He was tortured and murdered there on Aug 23.

Sentence: Prison until death for all five.

Charge 5: The killing of Paresh Chandra Sarkar in Ramnagar village on Sep 7.

Sentence: Death penalty for Shamsuddin.

Charge 6: Abduction, torture and murder of Abu Bakar Siddik and Rupali from Purba Nabaid Kalipur Village on Aug 25.

Sentence: Prison until death for Mannan.

Charge 7: The torching of 20 to 25 houses at Atkaparha village on Sep 15.

Sentence: Mannan sentenced to imprisonment for five years.

Shamsuddin Ahmed

Kishoreganj District Bar Association member Shamsuddin was born in 1956 at Karimganj Upazila’s Karimganj Madhyaparha village, according to his school records.

The chargesheet said he had joined the Razakars during the war in 1971 and engaged in war crimes in the district.

He went underground for a while after Bangladesh won the war against Pakistan, but surfaced later.

He completed BA in 1982 and LLB in 1991. Four years later, he completed BEd from Mymensingh Teachers Training College.

After working as a teacher since 1985, the war criminal retired in 2004 and later enrolled in Mymensingh District Bar Association as an advocate.

Nasiruddin Ahmed

Born in 1954, former army captain Nasiruddin, Shamsuddin’s elder brother, had joined the Razakars when the war broke out.

Both brothers received training from Razakar Commander Gazi Abdul Mannan, according to the chargesheet.

Nasiruddin went into hiding like his brother after the war. After coming out, he joined the army of independent Bangladesh.

The army sent him into forced retirement in 2002 over ethical grounds.

Gazi Abdul Mannan

Born in 1927 at Karimganj’s Charparha, Mannan became a Razakar commander during the war and was the local organiser of atrocities.

The court documents showed that he was directly involved in different crimes against humanity including abduction, torture in captivity, murder and arson along.

Hafiz Uddin

Hafiz was born in 1949 at Karimganj’s Khudir Jungle. He received education in local madrasas.

The war crimes tribunal’s investigators had found proof of his involvement in many crimes during the war after he joined the Razakar Force.

Ajharul Islam

Ajharul was born in 1956 at Karimganj’s Haidhankhali village and received education in local madrasas like Hafiz.

He was also involved in many war crimes in 1971 after he joined the Razakar Force.

Case details

The prosecution’s investigation team started their probe against these five war criminals in June 2013 and finished it in November last year.

Police arrested Shamsuddin Ahmed from Mymensingh’s Nandail on Nov 27, 2014.

The tribunal had taken the charges into cognisance three days after they were submitted on May 10 last year. The five were indicted on Oct 12, which paved the way for their trial.

Twenty-five people, including the investigation officer, testified to the prosecution, but the defence produced no witnesses.

On Apr 11, the tribunal kept its verdict pending after the arguments ended.

23rd verdict

After coming into power in 2009, the Awami League-led government set up the International Crimes Tribunal on Mar 25 in 2010 to try war criminals.

Tuesday's verdict, sentencing four Kishoreganj Razakars to death and imprisonment until death to the fifth, was the 23rd announced by the tribunal.

In its first verdict, the special court had sentenced former Jamaat-e-Islami Rukon Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar to death on Jan 21, 2013.

He has been absconding since the case was filed and has not appealed against the verdict.

On Feb 5 that year, the tribunal sentenced Jamaat assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla to life imprisonment, which sparked a nationwide campaign demanding his death sentence.

Forced by the mass protest, the government amended the International Crimes Tribunal Act, arming the State, like the defendants, with the right to appeal against tribunal verdicts concerning war crimes.

Following a prosecution appeal, the Supreme Court, on Sep 17, revised Molla’s sentence to death penalty after finding him guilty of previously unproven murders and rape.

The Jamaat leader was executed on Dec 12.

In its third verdict, the tribunal sentenced senior Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death on Feb 28, 2013 for his wartime atrocities.

The Appellate Division, however, commuted the punishment to imprisonment until death on Sep 17 last year after Sayedee, known as 'Deilya Razakar' in 1971, appealed against the death sentence.

In the fourth verdict, another Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Mohammad Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death on May 9, 2013. He was executed on Apr 11 last year after the apex court upheld the sentence.

In the fifth judgment, the tribunal, on Jun 15, 2013, sent former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam to jail for 90 years for engineering wartime atrocities in 1971.

However, the 92-year-old Jamaat guru died at the BSMMU hospital on Oct 23, 2014 while undergoing treatment.

On Jul 17, 2013, the ICT, in its sixth verdict, gave Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid the death sentence after he was proven guilty of mass killings and torture of Hindus during the war.

The Appellate Division on Jun 16 last year upheld the sentence against the former commander of Al-Badr, a militia Pakistan had raised to crush the Bengali struggle for independence.

In its seventh verdict, the ICT sentenced former BNP MP and Chittagong's wartime terror Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to death on Oct 1, 2013. His sentence was upheld on Jul 29, 2015.

Both Chowdhury and Mujahid were simultaneously hanged for their horrific war crimes in the Dhaka Central Jail on Nov 22 last year.

Next, former BNP minister Abul Alim was sentenced to imprisonment until death on Oct 9, 2013.

The 84-year old died at the BSMMU hospital’s prison cell on Aug 30, 2014 while undergoing treatment.

In the 10th verdict, the ICT on Nov 3, 2013, sentenced Al-Badr leaders Ashrafuzzaman Khan and Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin to death for killing 18 Bengali intellectuals during the last days of the war.

Both are absconding.

The 11th verdict came on Oct 29 in 2014, in which Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was given the death sentence for his involvement in mass murders, rapes, and the massacre of Bengali intellectuals.

Nizami, who, the verdict said, had ‘consciously and deliberately’ misused the name of Allah and Islam ‘to ruin and root out the Bengali Nation’, had appealed against the judgment.

The verdict on his petition will be delivered on Thursday.

In the 12th verdict, the ICT, on Nov 2, 2014, sentenced former Al-Badr leader of Chittagong Mir Quasem Ali to death. The Jamaat executive council member was also the organisation’s financial backbone.

The Supreme Court scrapped his appeal against the sentence, upholding the death penalty on Mar 8 this year.

In its next verdict, the tribunal, on Nov 13, 2014, gave Faridpur’s former Razakar commander Zahid Hossain, better known as Khokon Razakar, the death sentence. He is still on the run.

On Nov 24 the same year, Md Mobarak Hossain, a former Razakar commander from Brahmanbarhia and an expelled Awami League leader, was given the death penalty.

On Dec 23 that year, in the 15th verdict, former Jatiya Party minister Syed Mohammed Kaiser was sentenced to death for his war crimes. In 1971, he was a Muslim League leader from Habiganj.

On Dec 30, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam, who led the notorious Al-Badr militia in Rangpur during the war, was sentenced to death for the slaughter of 1,400 Hindus.​

In its 17th judgment, announced on Feb 23 last year, the ICT handed down the death penalty to senior Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Abdus Subhan.

On the next day, the tribunal sentenced Pirojpur's Razakar militia leader Abdul Jabbar to prison until death. The former Jatiya Party MP and vice-chairman is still absconding.

In the 18th verdict delivered on May 20 last year, Razakars Mahidur Rahman and Afsar Hossain Chutu of Chapainawabganj were also sentenced to prison until death.

On Jun 9 the same year, the tribunal sentenced Kishoreganj’s absconding Razakar commander Syed Md Hasan Ali to death.

The verdict said the "death be executed by hanging the accused by the neck till he is dead or by shooting him till he is dead".

The tribunal, in the 20th verdict, delivered on Jul 16, 2015, awarded Patuakhali’s Forkan Mollik, who was a close and notorious associate of local Razakars, the death penalty for rapes and killings during the war.

On Aug 11, Bagerhat’s Razakars leaders Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias ‘Siraj Master’ was given the death sentence and Khan Akram Hossain imprisonment until death for their war crimes.

The tribunal, in its 22nd verdict, on Feb 2 this year, sentenced to death former Razakar commander Md Obaidul Haq alias Abu Taher and member of the notorious militia Ataur Rahman Noni for mass killings in Netrokona.​