Moulvibazar genocide: Two to die, three others to spend rest of their lives in prison

A special court has convicted five people of genocide in the northeastern district of Moulvibazar during the 1971 Liberation War.

The International Crimes Tribunal awarded the capital punishment to Md Nesar Ali and Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury.

The three other convicts—Shamsul Hossain Tarafder alias Ashraf, Yunus Ahmed and Mobarak Mia—have been sentenced to prison until death.

Convicts Yunus and Ujer were in the dock when the verdict was delivered on Wednesday while the rest were tried as fugitives.

Md Nesar Ali (left) and Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury has been awarded the death penalty for genocide at a Moulvibazar village during the 1971 Liberation War.

The tribunal led by Justice Md Shahinur Islam said in its verdict that all of the five charges levelled by the prosecution have been proven beyond doubt and ordered the execution of death sentences by hanging.

It also instructed the home minister and the inspector general of police to take necessary steps to arrest the fugitive convicts and execute their sentences.

The war crimes convicts have the option to appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court, but the fugitives have to turn themselves in, prior to that.

Charges	Suspects	Conviction
Abduction, confinement and murder of Liberation War organiser Danu Mia of Moulvibazar’s Rajnagar Thana’s Baligaon village	Shamsul Hossain Tarafder alias Ashraf, Md Nesar Ali, Yunus Ahmed, Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury and Mobarak Mia	All five sentenced to prison until death
Abduction, confinement and murder of Dr Jamini Mohan	Md Nesar Ali, Yunus Ahmed and Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury	All three sentenced to prison until death
Abduction and torture  of three people; loot and arson	Md Nesar Ali, Yunus Ahmed and Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury	Yunus acquitted; Nesar and Ujer sentenced to five-year prison terms each
Abduction, confinement and murder Nojabat Ali and Abdul Basit; loot and arson	Shamsul Hossain Tarafder alias Ashraf, Md Nesar Ali, Yunus Ahmed, Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury and Mobarak Mia	All five sentenced to prison until death
Genocide; loot and arson of Hindu homes and temples;	Shamsul Hossain Tarafder alias Ashraf, Md Nesar Ali, Yunus Ahmed, Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury and Mobarak Mia	Death penalty awarded to Nesar and Ujer; Prison until death for others;

This is the 30th verdict by the war crimes tribunal since it was formed in 2010. The tribunal has tried 67 suspects, three of whom had died during trials.

A total of 64 people have been convicted of 1971 war crimes, of which 38 got the maximum punishment.

The tribunal convened at 10:30am on Wednesday after war crimes suspects Yunus and Ujer were brought to the court from the prison.

Security personnel at the entrance of the International Crimes Tribunal on Wednesday, when the 1971 war crimes verdict on five Moulvibazar men was announced.

The verdict contains 202 pages, Justice Islam said in his introductory remarks.

Judge Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar read out the first part of the summary followed by Justice Amir Hossain, who read out the second.

Justice Islam, the tribunal chairman, announced the sentences.

The investigation in the case began in October 2014. The tribunal’s investigation wing submitted its report in January 2016.

The court indicted the five on Dec 8, 2016 and began hearings in the trial on Jan 15 last year.

According to the charges, Shamsul was the local Al-Badr commander while Nesar was a local Razakar commander in 1971.

All of them had been charged of murders, genocide, abduction and torture during the 1971 Liberation War.

Ujer and Yunus were arrested in Moulvibazar on Oct 13, 2015 after the tribunal issued arrest warrants against them.