The order came in response to an application filed by the defence counsel, Fakhrul Islam, seeking an order from the tribunal to clarify its position regarding an alleged Skype conversation between the tribunal’s former chairman Justice Nizamul Huq and a Brussels-based academic Ahmed Ziauddin.
Fakhrul Islam has been asked to reply within three weeks and the next date of hearing has been fixed on Feb 6.
The application asked the judges for an order wherein the tribunal, reconstituted after Justice Huq’s resignation, would clarify whether it had knowledge of the alleged Skype conversation and in contact with such persons ‘implicated in the conspiracy as revealed by the leaked conversations’.
Justice Huq resigned over the Skype controversy on Dec 11, two days after which the three-judge International Crimes Tribunal – 1 was reconstituted.
Fakhrul Islam filed the application on Dec 30 on behalf of BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury who faces 23 war crimes charges.