Mueen Uddin, Ashraf 'abducted Prof Gias'
Martyred intellectual Prof Giasuddin Ahmed's niece yesterday testified that Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan had abducted her maternal uncle from Dhaka University campus on December 14, 1971 and he never returned.
Masuda Banu Ratna told the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that she had identified Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman when the duo had gone to Giasuddin's house that day.
Masuda, also the first prosecution witness in the case against Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman, said some other Dhaka University teachers were also abducted that day who also never returned.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan with members Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge Md Shahinur Islam recorded Masuda's testimony and cross-examination before adjourning the proceeding until today when she would face further cross-examination.
Earlier in the day, Sahidur Rahman, conducting prosecutor, placed the opening statement of the case.
The “absconding Al-Badr leaders” were indicted on 11 charges of involvement in the killing of 18 intellectuals in between the early hours of December 11 and December 15, 1971.
During her testimony, 59-year-old Masuda said she was a first-year math student of Dhaka University and used to stay at her maternal uncle's Nilkhet house.
She said her uncle was a teacher of history and house tutor of Hazi Muhammad Mohsin Hall. She added she was an active activist of Chhatra Union.
Around 7:30am on December 14, 1971, Giasuddin went to the dormitory's water pump area as there was no water supply that day, said Masuda, who is now an executive director of a non-government organisation.
Around 8:00am, an EPRTC microbus appeared and two armed persons came on the first floor and enquired about the professor. They left the house after Golam Kibria, a cousin of Giasuddin, said he was not home.
“After eight to ten minutes, they came back and started searching the house. At one stage, I became angry and engaged into an altercation with them,” said Masuda, adding, when Golam Kibria informed them about Giasuddin's whereabouts, they took him with them towards Mohsin Hall water pump.
“They found Giasuddin there and boarded him in the EPRTC microbus blindfolding his eyes. Uncle Kibria told me these after returning home,” said Masuda.
“The two armed persons were Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan. They were Dhaka University students and leaders of Islami Chhatra Sangha [the then student wing of Jamaat],” added Masuda.
“I was involved in student politics, that's why they [Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman] were known to me. They were resident students of Mohsin Hall and I heard one of them had got a seat in the dorm taking recommendation from uncle Giasuddin,” she added.
Kibria also told Masuda that some other detainees were also in the microbus, said the witness, adding that later they learned Dr Martuza, Abul Khayer, Rashidul Hasan, Anwar Pasha, Santosh Chandra Bhattacharyya, Faizul Mohi and others were also taken away that day.
After the victory on December 16, 1971, Masuda and her family members looked for Giasuddin's body everywhere around, she said. On January 5, 1972, one of Masuda's uncles went to Mirpur killing field and indentified Giasuddin's body. He was buried on Dhaka University campus near the mosque.
“Wife of Dr Martuza and others told me that Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan abducted their relatives at gun point and took them away on an EPRTA microbus,” said Masuda.
After her testimony, state-appointed defence counsel Abdus Shukur Khan cross-examined Masuda.
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