Produce 2 war crimes suspects on Sept 23
The war crimes tribunal yesterday directed the jail authorities to produce before it on September 23 two suspects for crimes against humanity committed in Chapainawabganj during the Liberation War.
Mahidur Rahman, 84, of Dadanchak village, and Afsar Hossain alias Chutu, 65, of Satrosia village, of the district, were arrested on Tuesday in a criminal case.
The duo, now in Chapainawabganj jail, had allegedly been members of Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, in 1971.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 led by Justice Obaidul Hassan passed the order after the prosecution had appealed to the court to show them arrested in a war crimes case.
In a petition, prosecutors also requested the court to keep the accused in jail for the sake of proper investigation.
Being members of Muslim League that opposed the independence of the then East Pakistan during the war, Mahidul and Afsar had also links with Razakar Bahini in Chapainawabganj at the time, and allegedly committed crimes like murder and mass killing, Prosecutor Sahidur Rahman said.
“Preliminary evidence of their involvement” was found in an investigation that began on February 11 into the allegations against them, he said, adding that that was why they had filed the petition.
Meanwhile, the tribunal asked the prosecution to submit on November 3 an investigation report on the allegations against war crimes suspect Forkan Mallik of Patuakhali.
The directive came after Prosecutor Mukhlesur Rahman Badal placed a progress report of the probe into the accusation against the alleged wartime commander of Mirzaganj upazila Razakar Bahini in the district and sought more time to complete the investigation.
The investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal began looking into the alleged war crimes by Forkan on June 25, the day he was arrested in Barisal city.
Forkan was produced before the court yesterday.
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