Mobarak claims innocence

War crimes accused Mobarak Hossain yesterday told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that the war crimes case against him is the result of a previous enmity and all the charges are totally false, baseless and fabricated.
Mobarak, a former local Awami League leader of Brahmanbaria, yesterday defended himself as the first witness in the case filed for his alleged involvement in the crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War.
He said he lived at his aunt’s house in Kharkut village of Akhaura, near the border, from April to December in 1971.
According to the indictment order, Mobarak, as a commander of Razakar force, “participated in,” “contributed to” and “facilitated” the commission of crimes in different parts of Brahmanbaria in 1971.
Mobarak claimed he was born on July 1, 1956 and was a minor during the war.
The war crimes accused claimed he had a land dispute with one Abdul Hamid of Noyadil village of Brahmanbaria, who filed the case against him.
Mobarak said he is still the organising secretary of Mogra union unit of AL.
Prosecutor Sahidur Rahman then cross-examined him.
Sahidur asked Mobarak whether he acknowledges that in the voter list, his birth year is mentioned as 1950.
Mobarak in reply said he went abroad in the 80′s and for work permit he had to change his birth year to 1950.
AZHAR’S CASE
The three-member tribunal led by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir yesterday also rejected a defence application filed seeking review of the indictment order against Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam as it did not find any merit in the petition.
The hearing for the petition had been fixed yesterday but senior defence counsel Abdur Razzaq, on grounds of “personal difficulty”, did not appear before the tribunal for the fifth time.
A junior counsel, Syed Md Raihan Uddin, prayed for adjournment.
TRIBUNAL-2
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 asked Bagerhat police to produce Shamima Aktar, a lawyer and notary public from Bagerhat, before the court as she failed to appear before it for the fourth time.
On November 17, the tribunal summoned Sheikh Abdul Wadud, lawyer of Bagerhat District Judge’s Court, and Shamima to appear before it on December 4 to clarify about an affidavit allegedly sworn by Achhia Khatun, a prosecution witness in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader AKM Yusuf.
Although Wadud had appeared before the tribunal yesterday, Shamima did not, so the three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan ordered the superintendent of police in Bagerhat to produce Shamima before the court on December 19 “without fail”.
The court, however, exempted Wadud from personal appearance.
During Achhia’s cross-examination on November 17, defence counsel Syed Mizanur Rahman showed her a document asking if she recognized the photo attached to it.  Achhia said it was her photo, but expressed her surprise on how it got there.
Mizanur also showed her a signature on the document and asked her if she had signed it.
The witness said it was not her signature.
The tribunal chairman said Achhia’s affidavit should not be in others’ possession unless it was made by others.
Since the witness denied signing the affidavit, the tribunal summoned the lawyers concerned to verify it. The contents of the affidavit could not be known.