Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal on Tuesday sentenced three people to death for collaborating with the Pakistani military and committing crimes against humanity during the country’s liberation war in 1971. One of the convicts is a fugitive and was tried in his absence, but the other two faced trial. The individuals… they were all Jamaat-e-Islami (party) activists, said senior prosecutor Syed Haider Ali.
Jamaat-e-Islami was opposed to Bangladesh’s 1971 independence from Pakistan, while its activists were key elements of auxiliary units of the Pakistani army such as the Razakar and al-Badr forces such as the Gestapo. A three-member panel of the tribunal, headed by Justice Shahnoor Islam, while pronouncing the verdict, ordered the convicts to be hanged by their necks till their death.
The perpetrators are in their late 60s and 70s and were little known to the public, while several other high-profile Jamaat leaders had earlier tried, when they masqueraded as Razakars in north-western Nagaon district. was accomplished. Prosecution lawyers said that of the three convicts, Rezaul Karim alias Montu is absconding. Karim was the one who headed a Razakar unit in the neighborhood of his native Naugaon district, while the other two convicts – Shahid Mandol and Nazrul Islam – were his accomplices.
Montu was a student of North Western Monarchy University in 1971 and was the leader of the Islamic Students Union, the student wing of the Jamaat. Under Bangladesh’s war crimes law, convicts can appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court’s Apex Appellate Division.
Lawyers for the three convicts said they are preparing to challenge the verdict in consultation with their clients. Bangladesh established two high-powered tribunals in 2010, which began a trial process to bring to justice allies of the Pakistan Army who committed war crimes in the 1971 Liberation War. Both the tribunals have so far delivered judgments in 46 cases.
The Tribunal awarded death sentence in most cases, while in some cases the convicts were imprisoned till death in view of their age. After the completion of their appeals, review petitions and clemency petitions to the President of Bangladesh, only six convicts have been hanged so far, while 22 convicts and 53 accused are still absconding.
The tribunal gave its first verdict on January 21, 2013 when it sentenced Abul Kalam Azad alias Bacchu Razakar to death.
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