FROM PAGE 3

She told the court that on the afternoon of July 4, 2011, Sajal returned home from work and asked for food.

Shortly after, his elder brother Azad also returned, and the two sat watching television. She told them the rice was ready but the curry was not.

“At that moment, Sajal received a phone call. While speaking, he started to leave the house. His brother told him to eat first,” she said.

She called out from the window, asking him to finish his meal before leaving.

“He replied, ‘I’ll just go talk and come back. Get the food ready -- we’ll eat together.’”

That was the last time she saw him alive.

According to her testimony, at the time, the family lived in a rented house in Begumganj of Gendaria. Azad worked as a bus helper, while Sajal worked at a sand and brick shop.

Ziaul Ahsan has been charged with three counts of crimes against humanity, filed on January 14, over alleged enforced disappearances and the killings of 104 people between 2010 and 2013.

According to the first charge, acting on Ziaul’s plan and with his direct involvement, Sajal and three unidentified individuals were shot dead along the Bypass Road in Pubail, Gazipur, on July 11, 2011.

The second charge alleges that between 2010 and 2013, at least 50 people, including former BDR member Nazrul Islam Mallik and Alkas Mallik, were shot dead at the confluence of the Baleshwar River in Barguna, and their bodies were dumped into the river on Ziaul’s instructions.

The third charge states that during the same period, Ziaul was involved in the killing of another 50 people in Barguna and the Sundarbans in Bagerhat, among other places, under the guise of anti-forest bandit operations.

Ziaul’s defence counsel sought his discharge, claiming he was innocent.

After the testimony, his lawyer, Aminul Ghani Titto, cross-examined the witness. The tribunal set April 8 for the next hearing.