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Mueen Uddin, Ashrafuzzaman

Martyr's daughter seeks justice

Staff Correspondent
Accusing Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan of abducting and killing her father, Farzana Choudhury Neepa, daughter of martyred intellectual Alim Chaudhury, yesterday prayed for their capital punishment.
Neepa, the ninth prosecution witness in the case against the "absconding Al-Badr leaders", appealed to International Crimes Tribunal-2 to try and punish their "main organisation" Jamaat-e-Islami for its role in 1971.
Mueen Uddin was Al-Badr operation-in-charge, while Ashrafuzzaman was its chief executor, she said adding that Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were "main organisers" of the infamous force.
Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman, who were indicted on 11 charges for allegedly killing 18 intellectuals in 1971, were also leaders of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of the Jamaat.
Neepa, who was only three in 1971, said she had gathered information from her mother, grandmother and two of her father's colleagues, who had witnessed her father's abduction, and also from newspapers, books and documentaries.
"I appeal for the trial and sentencing of all war criminals and their main
FROM PAGE 16 organisation Jamaat-e-Islami for depriving so many martyrs' children of their fathers' affection," said an emotion-choked Neepa.
As she completed her 68-minute testimony, state-appointed defence counsels Abdur Shukur Khan and Salma Hai Tuny completed her cross-examination.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan adjourned the case proceedings until today.
Neepa, who is a doctor and is conducting research on eye diseases in the US, said her father was also an eye specialist and was involved in all progressive movements, including the Language Movement in 1952.
Alim Chaudhury along with other doctors, including martyred physician Fazle Rabbi, used to run a secret hospital to treat wounded freedom fighters and provide medical and monetary assistance to them, said die 45-year-old witness.
Neepa said she had been living with her parents and two-year-old sister Nuzhat Choudhury Shampa in their rented house in Dhaka's Purana Paltan in 1971.
Around 4:00pm on December 15, a microbus stopped in front of their house and two armed persons entered the ground floor where "so called" Moulana Mannan, an organiser of Al-Badr, resided, said Neepa.
After 20-30 minutes, the duo knocked on their door, she added.
Mannan later became a member of military dictator HM Ershad's cabinet.
The witness said her father had gone to Mannan through another stairway, but the latter didn't open the door, adding that as her father returned, the armed persons took him away on that microbus.
Neepa said her mother Shyamoli Nasrin Chaudhury had also gone to Mannan's house, but he didn't open the door. When her mother wanted to know about the armed persons, Mannan told her not to panic as they were his "Al-Badr students”, who also took away doctor Fazle Rabbi.
Mannan also said her father was taken to the Combined Military Hospital for treatment of war-wounded people. They did not get further information about her father after that, said Neepa.
"On the morning of December 16, Joy Bangla slogans were heard everywhere. My mother waited for my father to hoist a Bangladeshi flag, which was put down earlier. But my mother's wait never ended. My father never returned," said Neepa.
Her father's body was found at the Rayerbazar killing ground on December 18 and he was buried at Azimpur graveyard, she added.
"My mother told me that the Al-Badr had abducted my father from our house," said Neepa, adding that she had also read newspapers, books and watched documentaries to know the reasons and identify the people behind the abduction and killings of the intellectuals, including her father.
She had later got involved with Projonmo'71, a platform of the children of the martyrs, became its general secretary and got more opportunity to learn about the killings of the intellectuals, she said.
In December 1971 and January 1972, daily Purbadesh and other newspapers published several reports on Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman's involvement in the intellectuals' killings. Later Twenty Twenty Television made a documentary titled "War Crimes File" regarding these heinous crimes, added Neepa.
During cross-examination, Shukur and Salma claimed their clients were neither involved with Al-Badr nor in any killings in 1971, but Neepa rejected their claims.
Meanwhile, the tribunal recorded the cross-examination of ZM Altafur Rahman, investigation officer and last prosecution witness in the case against Abdul Alim, for the second day and adjourned the proceedings until today.