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War Crimes Trial

SQ Chy seeks bail to join JS session

Staff Correspondent
The defence team of war crimes accused BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury yesterday pleaded with the International Crimes Tribunal-1 to grant him bail or order special arrangements so that he could join the ongoing parliament session.
Even if his party -- the main opposition BNP — does not join the parliament session, Salauddin Quader will do so, claimed his counsel Ahsanul Haq Hena.
Subsequently, the tribunal headed by Justice Md Nizamul Huq asked Ahsanul Haq whether his claim would be mentioned in the order, which will be passed today.
"The special arrangements can be taken without calling an adjournment of the tribunal proceedings. Even if he is granted bail, I do not want adjournment of the proceedings, " said Ahsanul Haq.
He promised before the tribunal that there would be no misuse of the privilege by his client.
At this stage, Justice Huq asked Zead Al Malum, prosecutor of the case, to express his position on the petition.
"His party is not taking part in parliament sessions. Therefore, such a prayer seems foggy and unclear, especially when the tribunal proceedings are heading to an end," said Malum, calling upon the defence to extend their hands of cooperation.
Malum added there was no bail provision in the International Crimes Tribunal Act. Therefore, the accused should not be granted bail. He also opposed the plea of special arrangements, sought instead of bail, on grounds of security.
The hearing of the petition went on for an hour. Salauddin Quader, who is facing 23 specific charges of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War in 1971, was in the dock.
The defence submitted the petition on May 27.
Earlier on the day, Justice Nizamul Huq expressed his disappointment over two reports published by the Bangla daily Sangram when Malum drew the tribunal's attention to the reports, one of which was headlined, "Third prosecution witness against Salauddin Quader Chowdhury is fake freedom fighter", published in the Bangla daily on May 29.
Malum told the court until the allegations were proved false, no one could mention them as false.
He asked how the reporter had called the witness a fake freedom fighter even when the defence had not yet proved it.
"It has been done to debase witnesses and hinder the tribunal proceedings," Malum observed.
The tribunal chief called up the daily's correspondent,
who was present in court.
"Fake freedom fighter is a serious statement. The correspondent seems by himself to have proved the witness fake," said the chairman, adding, there was no relation between having a certificate and being a freedomfighter.
They are honourable persons and came to the court at our request, Nizamul Huq added.
"We want cooperation from all the people of the country," he said and added that the editor of the daily had already been given punishment earlier for publishing misleading reports.
The tribunal later asked the reporter to give a corrigendum of the headline.
Tribunal-1 yesterday recorded the cross-examination of the investigation officer of another case filed against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain
Sayedee for his alleged involvement in war crimes during the LiberationWar.
The cross-examination went on for more than three hours with Sayedee being present in the dock.
The proceedings of the case were adjourned until today.
APPLICATION FOR CASE TRANSFER
Meanwhile, the defence of Ghulam Azam yesterday filed a petition before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 through the registrar for transferring the case against the former Jamaat chief to the second tribunal.
A people's court passed a verdict of hanging Ghulam Azam on March 26, 1992. Justice Nizamul Huq had then requested the government to execute the verdict on April 10, 1992, say the defence in a press release.
Since he was a member of
the secretariat of the investi-gation commission of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee in 1992 and played a vital role to lead the probe against Ghulam Azam, he could not conduct the trial on ethical grounds.
For the sake of transparency and neutrality, the case should be transferred from tribunal-1 to tribunal-2, they argued.
AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud, registrar to the two tribunals, said he had received their application and forwarded it to the tribunal concerned.
Malum said according to 11(A) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, only the chief prosecutor can make appeals for the transfer of a case from one tribunal to another for the sake of a completion of a trial speedily.
The defence cannot make any such appeals, he added.