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Published : 05 Nov 2018, 12:11 PM
A three-member bench led by Justice Shahinur Islam declared the verdict in the war crimes case on Monday.
According to the prosecution, Liakat was an activist of the Muslim League prior to 1971 while Aminul was a member of its student organisation.
Liakat was a former president of the Lakhai wing of Awami League from 2003 to 2013. He was accused of war crimes in 2010.
“The trials of accused Liakat Ali and Aminul Islam began on Nov 1, 2016 after the tribunal pressed charges against them in 2015. The court began to take testimonies on Dec 4,” Public Prosecutor Rezia Sultana told bdnews24.com.
The court said in its decision that the prosecution had proved all seven allegations against the accused. The court then ordered them to be hung by the neck until dead.
The suspects will be able to appeal the decision with the Supreme Court within a month, but will have to turn themselves in to do so.
Of the 85 suspects in the 35 cases brought before the International Crimes Tribunal thus far, five have died outside of custody. A total of 80 have been convicted, while 53 received death sentences for war crimes.
According to the probe report, both accused committed several crimes in Lakhai Upazila in Habiganj, Nasirnagar Upazila in Brahmanbaria and Austagram Upazila in Kishoreganj during the Liberation War.
The tribunal had issued arrest warrants for two of them on May 18, 2016. A notice was also published in newspaper as the accused could not be arrested. Finally, the court decided to continue the trials in their absence.
Liakat and Rajab, supported by Pakistani soldiers, committed mass killings and looting in Krishnapur village under Lakhai Upazila in Habiganj on Sept 18, 1971.
Forty-three persons from the Hindu community were shot dead during their raid, according to charges cited by the prosecutors.
THE TWO SUSPECTS
According to the prosecution, Liakat was a student of Brahmanbaria College in 1971. As a member of the anti-liberation Muslim League, he joined the Pakistani militia Razakar and led it in Fandauk union.
He had gone into a hiding after independence. He joined the Awami League after he resurfaced and subsequently became the president of the party’s Lakhai Upazila unit.
Rajab Ali, hailing from Alinagar village in Austagram, became the president of the Bhairab Haji Asmat Ali College unit of the Islami Chhatra Sangha in 1970.
According to the prosecution, Rajab received arms training at the Pakistani Army camp in Bhairab and later formed the local unit of Al-Badr militia once he returned to his neighbourhood.
It is reported that freedom fighters caught Rajab after independence and he was jailed for life in three cases filed under the Collaborators Act 1972.
Freed in 1981, Rajab authored a book on Al-Badr Bolchhi.
The prosecution pointed that Rajab’s statements in the book proved the war crime charges against him.
