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Unprepared War Crimes Prosecution

Tribunal unhappy

Staff Correspondent
Expressing much discontent, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday had to adjourn its proceedings for three hours as the prosecution was not ready with its documents in time during the trial of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
It also adjourned the proceedings against another Jamaat leader and war crimes accused, Abdul Quader Mollah, as one of the key defence counsels was not present in court.
Both Sayedee and Quader Mollah were
produced before the tribunal yesterday. They are among the six Jamaat and two BNP leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity at the tribunal.
After the two-member tribunal began its proceedings at 10:34am, prosecutor Mohammad Ali requested the court that Sayedee's case be taken up later in the day as some documents had not "come up" by that time.
“What do you mean by this? All your documents are with the court!” said Justice Md Nizamul Huq, the tribunal chairman. The prosecutor replied that there were some other documents, which were on the way.
“What kind of submission is this?” asked the tribunal chairman. "We express our dissatisfaction. We are not happy with the submission."
Mohammad Ali meekly replied that he was only standing in for Syed Haider Ali, the conducting prosecutor in Sayedee's case, as he was on the way and would arrive at the tribunal soon.
Farid Uddin Khan, a defence counsel of Quader Mollah, then stood up and said chief defence counsel of Jamaat leaders Abdur Razzaq was yet to return from abroad.
Razzaq is supposed to make the concluding argument against the charges brought against Quader, the Jamaat assistant secretarygeneral.
The tribunal then addressed Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo and said: “Mr Chief Prosecutor, we are to sleep here? Let your prosecutor come, let Mr Razzaq come. And we can sleep here [until then].”
Tipoo told the tribunal that there had been unavoidable circumstances.
Justice Nizamul Huq
then addressed Mizanul Islam, a defence counsel for Sayedee, and asked: “What should we do, Mr Mizanul Islam?”
And, before adjourning the morning proceedings, he said, "What kind of signal do we give to the people, if we suspend proceedings like this?”
The defence's argument was the only other item in the tribunal's agenda yesterday.
As a result, the court had nothing to do in the morning.
The tribunal also adjourned the proceedings against Quader Mollah until today.
Later, the court resumed its proceedings at 2:00pm with the recording of the deposition by Helal Uddin, the investigation officer (IO) who probed the charges against Sayedee.
The IO, also the last and 28th prosecution witness, in his testimony said that he had reviewed the history of India and Bangladesh starting from 1947 through different books, journals and publications.
He also presented before the court four pieces of corrugated iron sheets, which were old and burnt, as evidence against Sayedee.
Collected from the houses of Manik Poshari and Alamgir Poshari from
Pirojpur, the tins were apparently burnt when the houses were set on fire by Sayedee during the Liberation War of 1971. One of the tins has 15 holes in it, said Helal Uddin.
He also informed the tribunal that there were a wooden pole and a ceiling from the burnt houses.
“How is it that the records show four pieces of tins and yet what we have here are six pieces?" said Mizanul Islam, Sayedee's defence counsel.
His question occupied the court for several minutes with the prosecution later suggesting that those old tins might have been broken into pieces. Helal Uddin then said they had been brought from a faraway place and might have shattered while being transported.
After recording the evidence, the tribunal sarcastically asked the defence whether they wanted proof that those tins were really forty years old.
“No, my lord," said Mizanul, “The fact that they were not seized 40 years ago is mentioned in their own records."
According to the prosecution, the houses are still untouched and the proof of their being burnt is still there.
The IO will resume his deposition today.