Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina was accorded a warm welcome upon her arrival at the Government House, the Thai premier's office
Tribunal set to deliver war crimes verdict on 8 Jamalpur men
Security measures have been beefed up in and around the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday ahead of an impending verdict on eight men from Jamalpur.
Published : 18 July 2016, 05:03 AM
Updated : 18 July 2016, 05:05 AM
The men stand accused of murder, abduction, torture and looting during the 1971 Liberation War in the five charges levelled by the prosecution.
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.
All of them, except Haq and Ali, are absconding.
Police brought the two to the tribunal on Monday morning for the verdict delivery.
Shahbagh police OC Abu Bakar Siddique said that the men were transported from the Kashimpur prison in Gazipur to Dhaka.
The two are now kept in the tribunal’s lock-up after the prison van carrying them reached the court premises around 9am, the tribunal’s Registrar Shahidul Alam told bdnews24.com.
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.
The Jamaat-e-Islami strongly pitched for Pakistan's unity 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.
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