Verdict today in Quader Mollah's case

Today, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 is going to deliver the verdict in the case filed against Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah in connection with crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War.
This would be the second verdict of the tribunal and the first against an incumbent leader of Jamaat.
The party contributed significantly to the creation of auxiliary forces during the Liberation War for combating unarmed Bangalee civilians in the name of protecting Pakistan, an earlier verdict of the tribunal said.
Jamaat-e-Islami has called a dawn-to-dusk nationwide hartal today demanding the release of its top leaders being tried at the tribunal, scrapping of the tribunal altogether and to “protest the delivery of the verdict”.
Yesterday, tribunal Registrar AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud told reporters at a press briefing that the Tribunal-2, the second of two courts, would deliver the verdict against Mollah, 65.
“The tribunal has directed [the authority concerned] to register [Quader Mollah's] the case into tomorrow's [Tuesday's] cause list to deliver its verdict. So, it could be said the verdict of [Quader Mollah's] the case will be delivered tomorrow,” said the registrar.
Registrar Nasiruddin told The Daily Star, “Pronouncement of the verdict wouldn't be hampered by the hartal.”
Mollah is facing six charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the nine-month-long war in 1971. According to the charges, Mollah "actively participated" in the killing of at least 381 unarmed people in Dhaka's Mirpur and Keraniganj areas in six different incidents.
Tajul Islam, a senior member of Mollah's defence team, told The Daily Star, “It may not be possible for defence counsels to participate in tomorrow's [Tuesday's] court proceedings during the hartal. I personally will not go. One or two junior members [of defence team] may go to the court.”
Asked what would happen if defence counsels did not appear before the court today, the registrar said, “As per law, their [lawyers] absence would not create any problem.”
An initiative has been taken to produce the accused before the tribunal today, he said, adding that extra measures have also been taken to ensure security.
On January 17, the three-member Tribunal-2, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan with members Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge M Shahinur Islam kept Mollah's case waiting for verdict after conclusion of the closing arguments.
On January 21, the same tribunal made history by sentencing expelled Jamaat member Abul Kalam Azad to death, in its maiden judgment, for genocide and crimes against humanity during the war.
The case against another Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee is kept waiting for verdict at Tribunal-1.
While wrapping up its arguments in the case against Mollah, the prosecution sought capital punishment claiming that it had proved the charges brought against him.
Defence counsels claimed that the prosecution had failed not only to prove the case but also to provide some material evidence for tribunal's consideration.
A total of 12 prosecution witnesses, including two investigations officers of the case, had testified while six people, including Mollah himself, testified as defence witnesses.
Mollah was arrested on July 13, 2010, in a criminal case and on August 2, 2010, he was shown arrested in connection with crimes against humanity committed in 1971.
The investigation agency, designated to deal with war crimes probes, handed over its report to the prosecution on October 31, 2011, and the prosecution on December 18, 2011, submitted formal charges against Mollah before Tribunal-1, which took the charges into cognisance on December 28, 2011.
On April 16, 2012, the case against Mollah along with two other cases was transferred to Tribunal-2, set up on March 22, 2012.
On May 28, 2012, the tribunal framed six charges against Mollah for his alleged involvement in murders and mass killings during the war.
On June 20, 2012, the prosecution placed their opening statement and started to produce their witnesses on July 3 of that year.
After Tribunal-1 chairman Justice Nizamul Huq resigned in December, 2012, amid a controversy, Mollah sought retrial of his case but Tribunal-2 rejected his petition on January 7 this year.
The prosecution and the defence placed their closing arguments between December 17, 2012, and January 17 this year.
CHARGES
According to the charge frame order, Mollah, the then president of Dhaka University Shahidullah Hall unit Islami Chhatra Sangha, organised the formation of Al-Badr with the members of the student body in 1971.
Islami Chhatra Sangha was then the student wing of Jamaat and it in its entirety turned into Al-Badr force during the war, according to prosecution documents.
The Pakistani army, along with its collaborating forces like Razakar, Al-Badr, killed around 30 lakh Bangalees and violated some two lakh women during the nine-month-long war.
Charges against Mollah are: killing Bangla College Student Pallab; killing pro-liberation poet Meherun Nesa, her mother and two brothers; killing of journalist Khondoker Abu Taleb; killing of hundred of unarmed people of Khanbari and Ghatar Char villages in Keraniganj; killing 344 people in Alubdi village in Mirpur and killing of Hazrat Ali and five members of his family in Mirpur.
SECURITY
Security of the tribunals and its adjacent areas was beefed up yesterday, as there was a scheduled programme of Jamaat-e-Islami in the city.
Vehicular movement halted intermittently on the roads in front of the tribunals yesterday.
The registrar said, “There is nothing to be panicked about.”
Syed Nurul Islam, deputy commissioner (Ramna) of DMP, told The Daily Star that extra security measures including inner cordon have been taken to ensure foolproof security at the tribunal.