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Sayedee on Trial

Witness not produced

Vexed war crimes tribunal, warns prosecution for last time

Staff Correspondent
The International Crimes Tribunal gave the prosecution the last chance to produce witness after J they had again failed to do so yesterday in the case against Jamaat
Nayeb-e-Ameer Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
Sayedee is one of the six Jamaat and two BNP leaders who are facing the charge of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The tribunal yesterday fixed March 18 for the deposition of the 28th prosecution witness.
The prosecution was scheduled to produce the 28th witness yesterday as per the tribunal's order on February 23, also the day they failed to produce any witness.
On February 23, the tribunal gave the prosecution two weeks to produce witnesses and fixed March 7 (yesterday) for recording the deposition of the 28th witness.
The prosecution produced the 27th witness in the case on February 20 while the cross-examination of the 26th witness finished on March 4.
Tanvir Ahmed Al Amin, a counsel for Sayedee, told The Daily Star yesterday that the prosecutors had previously failed to produce witnesses for at least 15 times.
The tribunal yesterday in its order said, "This [the failure to produce witnesses] and subsequent adjournments have become a regular phenomenon.”
“However, as the last chance, we are allowing adjournment till March 18. The prosecution must produce witness on that day otherwise, the tribunal will pass appropriate order,” the court added.
When yesterday's proceedings began at 10:35am, prosecutor Mukhlesur Rahman Badal told the judges that he had something unpleasant to say.
He said a witness was supposed to appear before the court but could not due to illness. He sought an adjournment till March 10.
Justice Nizamul Huq, chairman of the three-judge tribunal, then asked the prosecution how long should the court wait for the next witness.
Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, one of the judges of the tribunal, said the prosecution should close the proceedings of deposition, if they could not produce any witnesses.
Prosecutor Badal said they would produce a witness before the court on March 11.
Interestingly, Mizanul Islam, another counsel for Sayedee, then asked the tribunal to allow the prosecution some more time.
AKM Zaheer Ahmed, another judge of the tribunal, said it was strange that the defence had pleaded time for the prosecution.
The court then passed the order giving time to the prosecution for bringing witness in the case against Sayedee.
On February 2, the proceeding against Sayedee had to be adjourned as three witnesses asking to visit their relatives left the prosecution's custody and did not return.
In February, the prosecution produced only four witnesses — former lawmaker form Narail Saif Hafizur Rahman, senior journalist Abed Khan, and one who could not remember anything specific related to the case and another who only confirmed the seizure of some newspaper articles by the investigation agency.
Charge framing hearing ofNizami
The tribunal yesterday deferred till March 13 the hearing on charge farming against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami, as the defence was yet to get legible copy of some relevant documents from the prosecution.
The tribunal will fix date for the defence to place their arguments on March 13 after prosecutors finish their argument.
It also directed the prosecution to supply legible copies of the documents by March 12.
On February 13, the tribunal directed the prosecution to supply legible copies of formal charges and relevant documents against Nizami to the registrar's office by February 22 and asked the defence to collect the copy from there. However, 198 pages of the 416-page document were still illegible, said Tajul Islam, a counsel ofNizami.