Tribunal sentences five Patuakhali men to death for war crimes

The International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced five Patuakhali men to death for crimes against humanity, including murder and rape, during the 1971 Liberation War.

A three-member panel of judges led by Justice Shahinur Islam announced the verdict on Monday.

The five suspects, Md Esahaque Shikder, Abdul Gani alias Gani Howlader, Md Awal, Md A Sattar Pada and Solaiman Mridha alias Soleman Mridha, were in court to hear the verdict. The court said that the two charges against them had been proven by the prosecution.

The five were sentenced to death for killing 17 people, vandalism, arson, abduction and torture in Itabaria village of Patuakhali during the Liberation War.

They were also sentenced to death for the rape of at least 15 women from the same village in 1971. 

The court said that the convicts had used rape as a weapon and that their victims had to live with the repercussions of those attacks for the rest of their lives.

“These women are our true war heroes. It is time to recognise them,” the tribunal said in the verdict.

The verdict also stated that the five convicts should be hung until they were dead.

According to the law, the convicts will be able to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court within a month of the verdict.

According to the prosecution, all of the convicts were supporters of Conventional Muslim League prior to 1971, but they were involved with the local wing of the BNP at the time of their arrests in 2015.

The International Crimes Tribunal indicted them on Mar 8 last year. 

Prosecutors Zead-al-Malum and Rezia Sultana Chaman represented the state while the defence was represented by lawyers Abdus Sattar Palwan and Md Abdus Salam Khan. 

Both sides had completed their arguments on May 30.