Dhaka: The prosecution submitted formal charges against war crime accused and Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam to the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-1) on Thursday.

The tribunal fixed July 24 to decide whether the charges brought against the Jamaat leader would be taken into cognizance.

The prosecution submitted 300-page formal charge sheet accusing Azharul of six types of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

Earlier, the tribunal directed the prosecution to submit formal charges against Azharul on July 15.

Jamaat acting secretary general Azhar reportedly had direct involvement in the killing of 1,200 unarmed Bangalees in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur on a single day during the Liberation War in 1971.

Police arrested Azhar at his Moghbazar home in the capital on August 22, 2012 two hours after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with crimes against humanity.

According to the prosecution, Azhar was a student of Rangpur Carmichael College and president of Islami Chhatra Sangha of Rangpur. He led the formation of the Al-Badr force in the district during the Liberation War.

The prosecution claimed that on a single day in mid-April 1971, around 1,200 freedom-loving Bangalees of Jharuar Beel and Padmapukur areas of Badarganj were killed and Azhar was directly involved in the mass killing.

In April 1971, Azhar along with the Pakistani army, abducted a professor of Rangpur Carmichael College along with his wife and some other professors of the college and shot them dead near Damdama Bridge in the district.

The Jamaat leader was directly involved in the killing of at least 11 people, including a prominent pro-liberation lawyer of Rangpur and a nine-month pregnant woman of Dhappara, in cooperation with the Pakistani army.

The lawyer was abducted in late March 1971. He was confined to Rangpur cantonment and tortured inhumanly there.

In April, he along with 10 others was shot dead at Dakhiganj Mahashwashan.

The accused also got involved in hatching conspiracies to kill pro-liberation intellectuals and professionals.

(FK/18/07/13)