Verdict on Shariatpur ‘war criminal’ any day
A tribunal in Dhaka will deliver the verdict any day in a case filed against a person from Shariatpur for crimes he allegedly committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
On the run, Edris Ali Sarder alias Gazi Edris, 67, is facing four charges. He was an alleged leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, and joined Razakars in 1971.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 kept the verdict waiting for delivery after both the prosecution and defence counsels completed giving closing arguments.
On May 2, the ICT-1 framed four charges against two Shariatpur men -- Edris Ali of of Paschim Kashabhog and Sulaiman Mollah, 84, of Kashipur Muslimpara of the district.
But Sulaiman died of old age complications at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on October 25. So, the tribunal ‘abated’ him from the case, According to the prosecution, Sulaiman was a Muslim League leader who in 1971 formed the Peace Committee and Razakar Bahini in Shariatpur.
On November 16 last year, the prosecution pressed the four charges against the duo.
During indictment, the tribunal said, “The formal charge and the statement of witnesses prima facie demonstrate that the accused persons enthusiastically sided with the policy and plan of the Pakistani occupation army and had allegedly carried out horrific activities of genocide and crimes against humanity and other inhumane acts...”
“The accused persons shall be presumed innocent until they are found guilty,” it said.
FOUR CHARGES
The first charge says Sulaiman and Edris, along with 100 to 150 Pakistani troops, attacked Angaria, Kashabhog, and Modhyapara in Palang upazila (now Shariatpur sadar) on May 22, killed 200 Hindus and one Abdus Samad Sikder, and looted and burnt all houses.
The next day the accused, along with 100 Pakistani army men, attacked Malopara and Rudrakar villages and shot dead a priest before looting and burning all the houses, says the second charge.
They forcibly took around 20 women and 10 to 15 men from the villages to a Pakistani army camp in Madaripur, where the women were raped for three days before being released and the men shot dead, the second charge adds.
According to the third charge, the duo along with eight to 10 Pakistani army men attacked and looted the home of one Shailendra Krishna Paul in June and killed two Hindu guards.
The fourth charge says the accused and the Pakistani army intimidated around 1,500 people into leaving Bangladesh between March 25 and December 10.
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