Crimes against humanity: Joy, Palak indictment decision on Jan 21

The International Crimes Tribunal will decide on Jan 21 whether to frame charges against Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and former ICT state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, accusing them of involvement in crimes against humanity

Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, chairman of the three-member bench of the International Crimes Tribunal-1, issued the order on Thursday.

Lawyer Liton Ahmed represented Palak while state-appointed lawyer Manzur Alam represented Joy.

During the hearing, defence lawyers opposed the three charges brought by the prosecution.

They claimed that Joy and Palak had no involvement in the alleged crimes and sought their discharge. The prosecution, however, argued for charges to be framed against both Joy and Palak.

The tribunal later set Jan 21 for its decision.

Earlier, on Jan 11, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam held a hearing on the framing of charges against the accused. On that day, he read out the three charges and sought the start of trial proceedings against the two accused.

The three charges allege that Palak incited violence on Facebook on the night of Jul 14, 2024, acting on Joy’s instructions. As a result, on Jul 15, police, along with armed members of the Awami League and the Chhatra League, attacked protesters at Dhaka University and in other areas.

The charges further allege that the two suspects instigated and provoked the use of lethal weapons by shutting down the internet, and aided and abetted killings. As a result of the attacks by police and party-backed armed groups, 28 people, including Russel and Mosleh Uddin, were killed.

According to the third charge, they also aided and abetted 34 killings in Uttara.

Over these incidents, the court on Dec 10 ordered the publication of notices in two national dailies directing Joy to surrender on charges of crimes against humanity. Palak, who is in custody, was produced before the court on the same day. On Dec 4, the court took cognisance of the formal charges submitted by the prosecution.