Prosecution gets probe report on ‘Jamaat war crimes’
War crimes investigators today submitted to the prosecution the probe report on Jamaat-e-Islami's role during the Liberation War of the country.
Investigation officer Matiur Rahman handed over the 373-page report along with other documents to chief prosecutor Ghulam Arief Tipoo at his office around 1:20pm.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the investigators said they have found the involvement of these anti-liberation bodies in grievous crimes committed during the Liberation War.
In the probe report, they have recommended banning Jamaat and six organisations that were associated with it back in 1971, they said.
The six organisations were Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), Jamaat's then student wing, Shanti Committee, Razakar Bahini, Al-Badr Bahini, Al-Shams Bahini and the Jamaat's mouthpiece daily Sangram.
Of the six, Shanti Committee, Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams are inoperative now. The ICS was renamed as Islami Chhatra Shibir in 1977, while Sangram continues to be a Jamaat mouthpiece.
The agency had begun its investigation on August 18, 2013 into the war crimes allegations against Jamaat.
If the party is charged with war crimes, it would be the first such case in Bangladesh.
Trial of the party has been a longstanding demand of the people of Bangladesh as it had stridently opposed the nation's demand for liberation from the oppression and misrule of the then West Pakistan rulers.
Meanwhile, a section of legal experts said the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act-1973 does not have any specific provision on punishment of any organisation and thus, the act should be amended to include such provisions before the trial begins.
Provision 20 (2) of the ICT act says, "Upon conviction of an accused person, the tribunal shall award sentence of death or such other punishment proportionate to the gravity of the crime as appears to the Tribunal to be just and proper".
However, the trial of a party or organisation for crimes against humanity or genocide is not unprecedented in the world history.
At the historic Nuremberg Tribunal in Germany, seven Nazi organisations, including the Reich Cabinet, Hitler's paramilitary force Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo, the secret police force of the Nazis, were tried for war crimes committed during the World War II.
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