Newspaper reports shown as evidence

A prosecution witness yesterday showed several newspaper reports of December 1971 and January 1972, where photographs of Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan were published with a call for their capture.
Azab Uddin Miah, an assistant librarian at Bangla Academy, also placed the newspaper reports as evidence before the International Crimes Tribunal-2, while testifying as the 19th prosecution witness in the case against alleged Al-Badr leaders Mueen and Ashraf.
Azab, the first seizure list witness in the case, exhibited a total of 129 reports published in nine newspapers, which were seized by war crimes investigators from Bangla Academy library in 2011 and in 2012.
The newspapers were: The Observer, Dainik Pakistan, Dainik Bangla, Dainik Purbadesh, Dainik Azad, Dainik Sangbad, Dainik Ittefaq, Dainik Sangram and Daily Morning News.
Mueen and Ashraf, who are now abroad, are facing 11 charges for their alleged involvement in the killing of 18 intellectuals in the last week of the nine-month-long Liberation War.
Azab showed to the court a Dainik Bangla report on December 29, 1971, titled “Mueen Uddin: The Operation-in-Charge of killer Al-Badr force.”
Dainik Purbadesh on the same date published a report titled “Operation-in-Charge Mueen Uddin: This killer has to be captured”. The daily also published a photograph of Mueen, which Azab showed. Mueen was a staff reporter of Dainik Purbadesh.
The newspaper on January 12, 1972, published a report titled “Dairy of tyrant: An important evidence of intellectual killings.”
The report was based on a diary, which the law enforcers recovered from the Nakhalpara home of Ashraf.
Azab showed two pages of the diary that was printed with the report of Dainik Purbadesh.
According to the investigation agency, the names and addresses of 20 intellectuals were in Ashraf's diary and those of eight intellectuals, who were abducted during the Liberation War, were tick marked. Several prosecution witnesses have talked about the diary.
On January 13, 1972, Purbadesh published a report headed, “Help arrest the killer of intellectuals”, with a photograph of Ashraf. Azab showed the picture during his 65-minute testimony yesterday.
Later, tribunal-appointed defence counsels Salma Hai Tuny and Abdus Shukur Khan completed his cross-examination before the tribunal.
Yesterday, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah presided over the proceedings and adjourned the case until September 1. Tribunal Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan was on leave.
ALIM'S CASE
Meanwhile, the tribunal rejected a petition by war crimes accused Abdul Alim seeking a recall of a tribunal order limiting the number of defence witnesses.
On August 21, the tribunal allowed three out of a list of 3,328 defence witnesses to defend the former BNP lawmaker but Alim's defence on August 27 filed a petition seeking recall of the order.
A total of 35 prosecution witnesses, including the investigation officer of the case, testified against Alim, who is facing 17 charges, including murder and genocide he allegedly committed during the Liberation War.
The first defence witness has already testified in the case.