& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Defence For Nizami

War tribunal gives nod to 4 witnesses

Staff Correspondent
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday allowed the defence to produce four out of a list of 25 witnesses in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami.
The Jamaat leader is facing 16 charges of crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
The defence on July 22 last year submitted a list of 10,111 witnesses, to which the prosecution had objected and in September this year put forward a petition seeking the list be shortened. The petition stated that the defence provided such an extensive list with motives of delaying the case proceedings.
On October 3, Nizami's counsels submitted a fresh list of 25 defence witnesses.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, yesterday said they arrived at a decision that fair justice would be made if the defence was allowed a maximum of four witnesses. It asked the defence counsel to submit the list of the four witnesses.
The tribunal in its order said burden of proofs solely lay upon the prosecution and it was evident that the defence did not take any plea of alibi, thus has no burden to prove the defence case.
The prosecution produced 26 witnesses to prove 12 charges and depended on documentary evidence for the rest.
Meanwhile, defence
counsel Mizanul Islam cross-examined Abdur Razzaque Khan, the investigation officer and the last prosecution witness in the case, for the fifth day yesterday and sought for another day to complete the cross-examination. The court asked Mizanul to complete the cross-examination before lunch today.
On the other hand, ICT-2 yesterday fixed October 28 for hearing the prosecution's opening statement and recording the testimony of the first prosecution witness in the case against Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali.
The case, where Quasem Ali is facing 14 charges of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War, was shifted
to ICT-2 from ICT-1 on September 30 for quick disposal.
The court also completed recording the cross-examination of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prosecution witness in the case against another Jamaat leader AKM Yusuf.
Yusufs Counsel Syed Mizanur Rahman completed the cross-examination before the three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan. The court adjourned the case proceeding until tomorrow.
Yusuf, who is historically known as the founder of the infamous Razakar force, is facing 13 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War.