Dhaka: Absconding Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar was sentenced to death for his involvement in crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation Was in 1971.

"He (Bacchu) will be hanged by neck till his death," Chairman of the three-member tribunal Justice Obaidul Hassan Shaheen pronounced in the crowed courtroom after his trial in absentia.

The verdict said Bacchu was awarded the capital punishment as seven of the eight charges against him were "proved beyond doubt".

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 led by its chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan Shaheen passed the verdict on Monday noon.

On Monday morning, the ICT-2 started pronouncing the maiden verdict on war crimes case against Bachchu Razakar for his war time crimes like mass killings, rape, religious conversion, looting and arson attacks on homes of minority communities he committed during the Liberation War in 1971.

The tribunal began its proceedings at about 10:45 am and the three-member panel of judges started reading a 112-page verdict against Bachchu Razakar. The pronouncement of the verdict was completed at about 11:45 am. Before starting the day’s proceedings, ICT-2 Chairman  Justice Obaidul Hassan Shaheen sought cooperation of all for completing the trial of the maiden war crimes case.

The reading of the verdict started at ICT-1 due to space constraint at ICT-2 and only gist of the 112-page verdict is being read out. A copy of the verdict will be later given to chief prosecutor of ICT and Attorney General.

Tribunal members Mojibur Rahman Mian and Shahinur Alam assisted in writing the verdict of the maiden war crimes case.

On Sunday, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 fixed Monday for pronouncing its maiden verdict in war crimes case against Jamaat leader Bachchu Razakar for his involvement in crimes against humanity.

Tribunal Registrar AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud confirmed Monday as date for the first verdict in the war crimes trial.

Tribunal Registrar AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud on Sunday said, “The tribunal, as per section 20 (1) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, asked [the authority concerned] to register the [Azad's] case into tomorrow's [Monday's] cause list to deliver its verdict.

 “This is the first case among all cases pending with the two tribunals of which the judgment is going to be delivered. In this consideration, tomorrow [Monday] is an important and historic day.”

The tribunal registrar on Sunday asked police to beef up security of the tribunals set up at the old High Court building in the capital.

Azad had been tried in absentia. He went into hiding and fled the country to avoid arrest seven hours before Tribunal-2 issued an arrest warrant against him on April 3, 2012. He used to present a television show on Islamic issues on a private television channel.

Azad was active in Jamaat-e-Islami but was later expelled from the political party, according to an investigation agency.

On December 26, both the defence and prosecution arguments were concluded in the case against the Jamaat leader for his crimes against humanity committed during the War of Liberation in 1971 in his absence.

In the morning, after completing defense arguments before the tribunal in favor of the fugitive Jamaat leader, state prosecution completed placing their counter arguments.

On December 26, 2012, the three-member Tribunal-2 led by Justice Obaidul Hassan with members Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge M Shahinur Islam kept Azad's case waiting for verdict after the conclusion of closing arguments.

Wrapping up the arguments between December 23 and 26, 2012, the prosecution appealed for capital punishment for Azad, while the state-appointed defence counsel sought his exemption from the eight charges.

As per legal procedure, the court fixes date for passing verdict after completion of state and defense arguments.

On March 25, 2012, three days after the Tribunal-2 was formed, the prosecution submitted a petition for issuing arrest warrant against Azad, also a close associate of another war-crimes accused Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.

It asked for the warrant as an investigation was going on against him in connection with crimes against humanity.

On April 3, 2012, the tribunal issued the warrant but by this time Azad fled the country to avert arrest and trial for crimes against humanity.

Bachchu, the fugitive leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, is facing eight-count of charges of 22 crimes against humanity which he committed during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

On July 26, 2012, the investigation agency, designated to deal with war crimes probes, completed its enquiry on Azad and handed over the report to the prosecution on July 29, 2012.

On September 2, the state prosecution placed 48-page charge-sheet, including some 22 allegations, against Abul Kalam Azad.

On September 9, the tribunal took the charges against Abul Kalam Azad into cognizance and directed to produce him before it by September 23.

On September 25, a notification was published in two national dailies asking Abul Kalam Azad to appear before the tribunal within 10 days of the notice.

But, the trial procedure against Azad began in his absence as he did not appear before the tribunal on time.

On October 7, 2012, the tribunal decided to hold Azad's trial in his absence as even after publication of newspaper ads asking him to appear before the tribunal he failed to show up.

The tribunal appointed Supreme Court lawyer Abdus Sukur Khan as the defence lawyer for Azad.

On November 4, 2012, ICT-2 framed charge against Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu ‘Razakar’ on charge of his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity.

Bachchu Razakar, accused for crimes against humanity during liberation war in 1971, managed to flee to India on way to Pakistan on April 2, 2012, just seven hours before the tribunal issued arrest warrant against him to put him to trial.

According to the allegations, Bachchu, a 1971 activist of Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), a vigilante group of Jamaat-e-Islami, and a cohort of Pakistan occupation army who served as collaborator voluntarily, had shot many people dead and patronised killings and burying of many at Faridpur Stadium.

Grabbing a two-storey building on Jasimuddin Road in Faridpur, he had set up a camp for the Pakistan's military.  He had also set up a court in the district where local Hindus were handed down various punishment.

On a day at the end of May, 1971, Bachchu shot and killed Jibon Chakraborty of Boalmari of Faridpur. He violated two women of Latifdia village in the same district in June. Robbing of the houses of many in the district, he turned out a wealthy man overnight.

Charges:

Bachchu was defended by sate-appointed lawyers in line with law for the absconding accused while the judgment said he was found guilty of the offences of crimes against humanity listed in charge number three, four and six and for the offence of genocide listed in charge number seven.

The proven charges against him were abduction, confinement and torture of Ranjit Nath, murder of Sudhangshu Mohan Roy, Madhab Chandra Biswas, Chitta Ranjan Das, Haripada Saha and Prabir Kumar Saha, rape of three women and genocide in Hasamdia village of Boalmari in Faridpur, his hometown.

Appeal procedures:

Lawyers said under the International Crimes Tribunal Act, Azad could avail a chance to get his verdict reviewed by the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court if he surrendered or was arrested in next 30 days, on expiry of which it would depend on the apex court decision if his trial would be reviewed.

Other accused:

The verdict came as trial of eight other high-profile suspects of 1971 war crimes, mostly belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami that opposed Bangladesh's 1971 independence, were underway in two special tribunals.

The first of the two tribunals was constituted on March 25, 2010 along with the special investigation agency and a prosecution cell in line with the election pledges of the ruling Awami League to expose to trial the war criminals.

Six of them were stalwarts were of Jamaat-e-Islami including chief of erstwhile East Pakistan unit of the party Ghulam Azam, incumbent chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and media doyen Mir Kashem Ali, who heads the pro-Jamaat Diganta Media Corporation.

The remaining two belong to the BNP and they are influential party lawmaker and former minister Salauddin Qader Chowdhury and former state minister Abdul Alim.

Officially, three million people were killed in the war by the Pakistani army and their Bengali-speaking collaborators during the 1971 Liberation War.

Foreign lobbying:

The government said the influential suspects tried to frustrate the trial engaging lobbyists abroad as Jamaat earlier called the trial "politically motivated" while BNP too earlier questioned the proceedings and claimed to have found loopholes in the war crime laws, a claim rejected by the government and rights watchdogs.

Reports earlier speculated the trial of several Islamist leaders might have annoyed Saudi Arabia alongside Pakistan but Riyadh last month said the ongoing war crimes trial would not affect its ties with Dhaka with its envoy in Dhaka Abdullah Al Bussairy called the trial "an internal affair of Bangladesh."

Pakistan initially expressed their indirect reservation about the trial of the collaborators of its troops in 1971 but it subsequently preferred to keep silent as Dhaka said only the Bangladeshi suspects of the war crimes were exposed to justice while Pakistanis would not come under the purview of the process.

But a sense of unease gripped Dhaka-Ankara ties over 1971 war crimes trial summoning of envoys in each others capitals last month after Turkish President Abdullah Gul sent letters to his Bangladesh counterpart Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina calllng for "clemency" to the accused under trial.

The foreign ministry officials said Gul's letter was the first ever visible interference since the first special tribunal which was protested in due manner.

Reactions:

But the verdict appeared to have sparked wide applause with TV channels airing reactions of ordinary people welcoming the judgment while street marches were staged at different places including the capital Dhaka and even the village of the convict.

Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Dr Mizanur Rahman expressed his joy over the verdict and said, "For long, the culture of acquittal after committing crimes was on in our country. But the verdict triggered a new beginning."

"It has been proved again law takes its own course and nobody is above law," Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu said.

The Awami League-led 14-party alliance on Monday expressed satisfaction over the verdict with Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul- Alam Hanif saying, "People of the country extended support to the war crimes trial".

He said the 14-party alliance would form human chains from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm on January 24 (Thursday) in Dhaka City and other places across the country demanding expedited trial of the war criminals.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam called it "a verdict of freedom, and of sovereignty. Now it has been proved that the criminals had committed crimes, not only against the humanity but also against the civilization".

Cultural personality and 1971 veteran Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu said, "Now it has been proved that Jamaat- e-Islami is a party of war criminals. We all are grateful to the tribunal and its judges for passing such an historical verdict. It is one of the biggest days of our nation."

Historian Muntassir Mamun said Bangladesh has started walking on the course of a fresh victory through this verdict.

The historian, who has also testified against another war crimes suspect Ghulam Azam, urged for banning the politics of Jamaat.

Chief investigator of the investigating agency of the International Crimes Tribunal, Abdul Hannan Khan, welcomed the verdict.

Security:

Authorities earlier enforced a tight security around the tribunal premises at the Old High Court building installing CCTVs, metal detector installed to ensure security as the verdict was delivered.

Talking to journalists on Monday Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Syed Nurul Islam said extra number of security people from police, RAB, SB, DB, DGFI and NSI were deployed to ensure strong security in the capital as well as High Court premises.

"Not only today, law enforcers were on alert from Sunday night," he said, adding they were also asked to remain alert in the city's Motijheel, Moghbazar, Shahbagh, Ramna areas, old part of the city and the tribunal area.

Besides, the law enforcers have been asked to keep an extra vigil at the important establishments and offices deploying an additional 20 platoons of police and more 10 platoons.

Ends/AMA/21/01/13