ICT decision on Kashem's bail today
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 is to decide today whether it would grant bail to war crimes suspect Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali.
The three-member tribunal fixed the date yesterday after hearing the submission on Kashem's bail from both sides.
The defence appealed for the bail as the court proceedings started around 10:40am, after Kashem had signed his power of attorney over to his counsel Abdur Razzak.
Razzak told the court that his 62-year-old client should be granted bail on medical grounds and that as a dignified person, Kashem had no intention to flee.
“He made no attempt to hide or abscond. We will make sure that he does not do so,” said the defence.
Razzak also termed the allegation of Kashem influencing witnesses totally “vague”. “He did not make any contact with any prosecution witness,” he told the court.
Chairman of the three-member tribunal Justice Nizamul Huq then asked the prosecution for its arguments against the petition.
Prosecutor Zead Al Mamun told the tribunal that witnesses might be killed or made to disappear if Kashem was granted bail.
He said Kashem was a very influential man and the ongoing investigation against him might be hampered if he was freed.
“I appeal to the court not to grant him bail until the investigation is completed,” said the prosecution.
The prosecution also made a mention of the brutality of Kashem-led Al Badr, the then auxiliary force of the Pakistan occupation army, in Chittagong in 1971.
The tribunal then fixed today to pass the order on the matter.
Kashem was arrested at the office of Bangla daily Naya Diganta in the capital's Motijheel area on Sunday, two hours within the tribunal had issued arrest warrant for the Jamaat leader for his alleged involvement with crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of 1971.
The tribunal later sent him to jail with a custody warrant.
Meanwhile, a counsel of another war crimes accused Delwar Hossain Sayedee yesterday submitted a petition to Tribunal-1 so that Sayedee could spend some time with his family before having an angiogram.
“My client thinks this test would be his last and he may not return alive from the operating theatre. That's why he wanted to see his family,” said Sayedee's counsel Tajul Islam.
He told the court that Sayedee was supposed to have the angiogram yesterday around 9:00am but he did not want to go for it without seeing his family.
In response, the tribunal said the issue was beyond its jurisdiction. “We cannot interfere,” said Nizamul Huq.
On Sunday, Tribunal-1 adjourned Sayedee's trial proceedings until Wednesday for the medical test and on a petition filed by the defence.
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