Mojaheed verdict any day

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 could deliver verdict in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed any day as the trial proceedings concluded yesterday.
Mojaheed, allegedly the chief of infamous Al-Badr force, is facing seven charges including murder, genocide and conspiracy to kill the intellectuals during the Liberation War in 1971.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan with members Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge Md Shahinur Islam kept the case waiting for verdict yesterday after the prosecution and the defence completed placing their replies in response to each other's closing arguments.
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“We are keeping the case CAV [Curia Advisari Vult, a Latin legal term meaning verdict would be delivered anytime]. The verdict could be delivered any day,” Justice Hassan said.
Prosecutor Muklesur Rahman Badal yesterday said, “Through documentary and verbal evidence, we have been able to prove all the charges. We are seeking capital punishment.”
On Tuesday, the defence completed their closing arguments and their chief Abdur Razzaq said, “The prosecution have failed to prove the charges brought against Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and we hope he will be found not guilty.”
The two tribunals dealing with the war crimes cases have so far delivered verdicts in four cases. The Tribunal-1 on April 17 kept the case against former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam waiting for verdict.
The Tribunal-2 awarded expelled Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad and Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman death sentence and another Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah life sentence, while the Tribunal-1 awarded Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee capital punishment.
The Tribunal-2 had taken 25 days for delivering the verdict in Azad's case after the proceedings were completed, 18 days in Quader Mollah's case and 22 days in Kamaruzzaman's case.
Mojaheed, a former technocrat minister of the last BNP-led alliance government, was arrested on June 29, 2010, in connection with hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.
The investigation agency, designated to probe war crimes, started investigation his alleged crimes during the war on July 21, 2010, and completed its probe in October, 2011. Mojaheed was shown arrested in the war crimes case on August 2, 2010.
On January 16, 2012, the prosecution submitted 34 charges against him and the tribunal took the charges into cognisance on January 26. The case was transferred to Tribunal-2 on April 25, 2012.
On June 21, 2012, Mojaheed, who was a top leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat in 1971, was indicted on seven charges.
As per the indictment order, Mojaheed in October 1971 was elected provincial president of Chhatra Sangha and became the chief of Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army that was especially responsible for the planned killings of the intellectuals at the fag-end of the nine-month-long war.
Al-Badr was an “action section” and “armed wing” of Jamaat and was formed mainly with the members of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the Tribunal-2 observed in Kamaruzzaman's verdict.
As many as 17 prosecution witnesses including the investigation officer of the case testified against Mojaheed, while his younger son gave testimony as the lone defence witness.
The prosecution and the defence placed closing arguments between May 7 and yesterday.
If convicted, Mojaheed could get the death penalty. The war crimes law only allows a convict to appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against conviction and sentence within 30 days from the date of verdict delivery.