The prosecution and the defence at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 would have to do everything within the time specified by the court from now on.
The tribunal issued an order in this regard on Thursday following long cross-examination of prosecution witness Prof Muntassir Mamoon in the case against former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam.
Defence counsel Mizanul Islam cross-
examined Muntassir for about 14 hours last week but could not finish even though the witness had humbly requested the defence and the tribunal to complete the cross-examination.
To catch up with the lost time, the tribunal, which usually goes to one-hour lunch every day, went for a 45-minute break around 1:00pm Thursday.
Chairman of the tribunal Justice Md Nizamul Huq around 2:55pm said the
SEE PAGE 6 COL 5 FROM PAGE 20 defence has to finish cross-examination of Muntassir by 3:45pm.
“My lord! It is not possible,” said Mizanul.
“Okay. We will give an order at 3:45pm," the chairman said.
During this 50-minute cross-examination, the defence counsel asked the witness around 18 questions, like the name of first director of the Razakars in 1971, whether the director was arrested after independence, name of the chief of the Razakars in Dhaka district, number of Razakar members and whether the witness read the Daily Sangram and the Daily Ittefaq during the Liberation War.
When the clock struck 3:45pm, Muntassir drew the tribunal's attention and refused to answer any more questions.
The tribunal then asked the defence to respond on finishing off Muntassir's cross-examination.
Defence counsel Mizanul said the charges against Ghulam Azam were vast. He was accused of killing 30 lakh martyrs, rape of “4 lakh”
women and looting of thousands of houses and setting fire to houses during the Liberation War. Therefore, it is practically not possible to complete the cross-examination within a short time, the defence said.
The defence also claimed that Muntassir did not reply to their question satisfactorily. That is why they require at least two more days to complete the cross-examination.
Mizanul also said the witness could appear for cross-examination at times convenient for him and by this time other preceding of the case could go on.
“From our point of view, we will be deprived of justice,” said the defence, adding he did not make any unreasonable delay.
Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu, however, said the defence was already given sufficient time and there was no need for more.
Delivering the order, Justice Nizamul said the defence had six full sessions in three days to cross-examine the witness. A time would come when witnesses would be reluctant to come to the tribunal, said the justice.
The tribunal said according to the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973, it reserved the right to take measures for speeding up proceedings of the tribunal.
The tribunal chairman observed that the defence tried their best to complete the cross-examination. “We will fix time for the defence and the prosecution to cross examine every witness coming to the tribunal in future,” he said.
Regarding the plea for two more days, the tribunal gave the defence one more session for cross-examining Muntassir on a day convenient for the witness. Until then, the case proceedings would go on as usual.
Muntassir then stood up and said he would follow the order.
“Though I'm not feeling well, I have cooperated. But the accused of the case stays at the tribunal only for an hour. I'm also sick," said Muntassir.
Judge AKM Zahir Ahmed, a member of the tribunal, said, “He IGhulam Azam] is accused in a case where the highest punishment is death penalty. That's why he is given the facilities.”
Ghulam Azam, who was
the ameer (chief) of the East Pakistan [now Bangladeshi Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971, has been indicted on five charges of crimes against humanity based on 60 incidents during the Liberation War.
Meanwhile, International Crimes THbunal-2 on Thursday deferred to July 9 the hearing on apetitionofwar crimes accused Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed for reviewinghis indictmentorder.
The three-member tribunal led by its Chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir fixed the fresh date following time petition of the defence.
On June 21, the tribunal indicted Mojaheed on seven charges, including murder, torture, and genocide and hatching a conspiracy to kill intellectuals during the Liberation War. On July 1, the defence filed the petition seeking review of the indictmentorder.
On Thursday, defence counsel Munshi Ahsan Kabir sought adjournment of the court proceedings saying that Abdur Razzaq, chief of the defence counsels of detained Jamaat leaders, was to place arguments on the petition buthe was abroad.