Tajul Islam appointed chief prosecutor at International Crimes Tribunal

Four other Supreme Court lawyers also join as prosecutors

Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Tajul Islam has been appointed as the chief prosecutor to the International Crimes Tribunal.

He will have four other Supreme Court lawyers in the prosecution team.

The Solicitor’s Division of the law ministry issued a notification on Thursday announcing their appointments.

The other four prosecutors are Md Mizanul Islam, Gazi Monawar Hossain Tamim, BM Sultan Mahmud, and Abdullah Al Noman.

Advocate Tajul will hold the same status as the attorney general, according to the statement.

The notification also specifies that among the new prosecutors, Mizanul will hold the position of additional attorney general, while Tamim and Mahmud will serve as deputy attorneys general. Noman will have the status of assistant attorney general.

Tajul, who was the lawyer for Jamaat-e-Islami leaders at the tribunal and served as the joint convenor of the Amar Bangladesh Party, or AB Party, has reportedly resigned from his position, according to media reports.

Previously, 13 prosecutors, including Acting Chief Prosecutor Syed Haider Ali, resigned after the power shift.

The law ministry's Solicitor’s Division issued a notification regarding these changes on Aug 18.

Earlier, Law Advisor Asif Nazrul had indicated plans to reorganise the tribunal.

The International Crimes Tribunal was established 39 years after the independence of Bangladesh to adjudicate war crimes.

It formally began its operations on Mar 25, 2010.

A second tribunal, Tribunal-2, was formed on Mar 22, 2012 and both tribunals were merged into one on Sept 15, 2015.

Currently, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 is handling cases.

So far, the tribunal has delivered verdicts in 51 cases, with 91 out of 131 convicted individuals receiving the death penalty.