War crimes verdict of eight Jamalpur men on Monday

The verdict on war crime charges against eight men from Jamalpur, including a former Islami Bank director, will be delivered on Monday.

The International Crimes Tribunal concluded the trial on Jun 19 but had kept the verdict pending.

“The court fixed Monday for delivering the verdict,” Prosecutor Rezia Sultana Chaman told bdnews24.com on Sunday.

The accused are former Islami Bank director Sharif Ahmmed alias Sharif Hossain, Md Ashraf Hossain, Md Abdul Mannan, Md Abdul Bari, ‘Harun’, Md Abul Hashem, advocate Md Shamsul Haq alias ‘Badar Bhai’, and SM Yusuf Ali.

Haq and Ali are in jail, while the others are absconding.

Investigators say Haq is a former chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Jamalpur unit, while retired teacher Ali, too, was involved with Jamaat.

The trial began in October last year after the tribunal indicted the eight accused, five months after the prosecution levelled charges against them.

Bangladesh put suspected war criminals on trial after the formation of the first tribunal in 2010.

A second tribunal was set up two years later to expedite the trials.

But last year, the government merged the two tribunals as the number of cases has come down.

An estimated three million people were killed during the nine-month war with Pakistan.

Jamaat strongly pitched for Pakistan's unity for its Islamist character and opposed the Bengali's freedom struggle.

The High Court revoked the party’s registration with the Election Commission in 2013.

Most of the war crimes convicts are from Jamaat.

The tribunal took cognisance of the charges pressed against the eight men from Jamalpur on Apr 29 last year.

Police arrested Haq and Ali after the tribunal ordered their arrest on Mar 2.

Tribunal’s investigation agency says Haq and Ali were involved with Razakars during the war, while the rest were members of Al-Badr militia.