War Crimes Trial: 'Two journos press witness not to testify'
A prosecution witness has filed a general diary accusing two local journalists in Patuakhali of asking her not to testify in the International Crimes Tribunal against accused in a case pending with the court.
Jafor Khan, Patuakhali correspondent of Daily Jugantor, and Zakir Hossain, Patuakhali correspondent of Daily Inqilab and New Age, went to Itbaria village under sadar upazila of the district around noon on October 19 and met Monowara Begum, a Birangona and the witness, police said, referring to the GD.
They asked her what she knew about the tortures carried out by five war crimes accused in the village during the 1971 Liberation War.
The journalists then stopped her in the middle of her narrative and told her not to testify against the accused. She did not agree to do so, Monowara said in the GD filed two days later with Patuakhali Sadar Police Station, said Officer-in-Charge SM Tariqul Islam.
The war crimes accused are Esahaq Shikder, 83, Abdul Goni Hawlader, 72, Md Awal alias Awal Moulavi, 69, Abdus Sattar Pyada, 65, and Solaiman Mridha, 86, of Patuakhali sadar upazila. All are in jail now.
The prosecution on October 16 pressed two charges of crimes against humanity against them.
Meanwhile, police on Monday arrested the journalists in an extortion case filed by a local fish trader. They were released on bail yesterday.
An investigation is on into the alleged extortion and the matter cited in the GD, police said.
Zakir Hossain, one of the journalists, claimed that the allegations brought against them were “baseless and false.”
Investigation officer Mominul Islam, however, quoted Monowara as saying in the GD that the journalists told her she would get Tk 2 lakh and a house for not testifying in the war crimes case.
Another prosecution witness of the case told police that she had received a similar offer from the journalists.
Monowara and the other witness communicated the matter to Satya Ranjon Roy, the investigation officer of the war crimes case. Satya asked the Patuakhali superintendent of police to take legal steps in this regard.
Satya confirmed the matter but declined to give details.
“We will take legal measures after a proper investigation,” said Mominul Islam, sub- inspector of the Patuakhali police station.
Meanwhile, the tribunal's investigation agency yesterday wrote to the Chief Prosecutor's Office to take action against the journalists under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act-1973.
It made the move on receiving a report regarding the matter from Patuakhali police, the agency's coordinator Abdul Hannan Khan told The Daily Star last night.
The ICT can punish anyone under section-11 (4) of the act for obstructing the trial process, he said, adding that asking a witness not to give testimony in a case is tantamount to obstructing the trial.
According to the charges pressed against the war crimes accused, they along with Pakistani army personnel killed 17 people in Itbaria village, torched and looted 21 houses, and abducted six children and 15 women in 1971. The abductees were confined to Patuakhali Circuit House and raped for 10 days.
EXTORTION CASE
Dulal Mridha of Muslimpara in the district town filed the case on October 24, alleging that the journalists went to his shop around 5:00pm four days back and demanded Tk 50,000. They threatened to publish news linking him with illegal hilsa trading, police said.
When Dulal refused to give them the money, they took pictures of the shop. They again went to the shop on Monday and took Tk 1.07 lakh from his pocket and the cash box, according to the case statement.
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