The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday found five Moulvibazar men guilty of committing genocide and crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The tribunal handed down death penalty to two and jail until death to three others. All of them worked as the collaborators of the Pakistan army and committed the crimes in Rajnagar upazila 47 years ago.
“The accused persons knowingly and agreeing with the common purpose of the squad remained physically and actively engaged with it till significant phase of attacks which eventually ended in killing of detained pro-liberation civilians,” the court said.
Of the convicts, Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury, 63, and Nesar Ali, 75, were given death penalties, while Yunus Ahmed, 71, Samsul Hossain Tarafder, 65, and Mobarak Mia, 66, were awarded imprisonment until death.
Yunus and Ujer are in jail and the rest are on the run. Samsul was involved with Al-Badr force, while the rest with Razakar force, the prosecution said.
Al-Badr and Razakar were two auxiliary forces of the Pakistan army in 1971.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Md Shahinur Islam, has directed the secretary to the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the inspector general of police to take necessary steps to arrest the fugitives.
The other two members of the special tribunal are Justice Amir Hossain and Judge Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar.
Sultan Mahmud Simon, conducting prosecutor of the case, expressed satisfaction over the verdict.
Replying to a question whether they would file an appeal seeking death penalty for the three other convicts, Simon said they would give their opinion to the government after going through the full verdict.
Defence counsel Muzahedul Islam Shahin, however, said his clients did not get justice and they would file an appeal after talking to his clients.
According to the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, a war crimes convict can file an appeal with the SC within 30 days from the date of the verdict's pronouncement.
With the latest verdict, the war crimes tribunals have so far delivered 30 judgments against 64 people. Thirty-nine of them have been sentenced to death.
CONVICTS, CHARGES AND PUNISHMENT
All the convicts were involved with the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League -- two anti-liberation parties -- during the Liberation War, Hari Devnath, investigation officer of the case, said.
As the war broke out, Samsul and Nesar became the commanders of local Al-Badr and Razakar forces, while the other three were members of the Razakar force, he said.
After the War, all of them got affiliated with Jamaat, the IO told The Daily Star.
All five convicts were given jail until death for killing Danu Mia, an organiser of the Liberation War, and for abducting, confining and torturing two others in Rajnagar.
Nesar, Ujer and Yunus were given jail until death for killing Dr Jamini Mohan Dev and abducting, confining and torturing two others in the upazila.
Nesar and Ujer were given five-year jail for abduction, confinement and torture of four people and also for arson and looting in the upazila. Yunus was acquitted of this charge.
All five convicts were given jail until death for the killing of Nojabat Ali and Abdul Basit alias Badsha of the upazila.
Ujer and Nesar were given death penalty for their involvement in the genocide in Kholagram where 14 Hindus were killed. Three other convicts were given jail until death for their involvement in the same offence.
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