Prosecution jobs rearranged

While redistributing duties of his team members, the chief prosecutor of the international crimes tribunals has left six team members without any specific work, which created an uncomfortable atmosphere in the team.
Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo redistributed duties on Wednesday, two days after prosecutor Tureen Afroz filed a complaint seeking necessary action against her colleague Mohammad Ali for making derogatory comments in a TV interview.
The chief coordinator and a prosecutor of the 22-member prosecution team have already questioned whether the chief prosecutor had the jurisdiction to redistribute duties.
Although the prosecution chief declined to give the reasons behind the move, sources in the prosecution said poor performance and long absence of prosecutors in court proceedings were the reasons.
Prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman, Abdur Rahman Howlader, Altab Uddin Ahmed, Mohammad Ali, Mir Iqbal Hossain, Mohammad Ali and Nurjahan Begum Mukta now have no specific duties in the team.
The order from the chief prosecutor's office reads, “The reallocation of duties and work purview among the prosecutors is aimed at further speeding up [prosecution's] overall activities.
“The office order would be effective immediately and will remain in force until further notice,” it adds.
Zead Al Malum, the prosecutor responsible for administrative affairs, told The Daily Star yesterday that the chief prosecutor had the right to reallocate duties. “I have nothing to say about the six prosecutors [who were removed from active duties],” added Malum.
Mentioning that he had not gotten the order, Abdur Rahman Howlader questioned the chief prosecutor's authority over the matter.
According to him, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman, the chief coordinator of the prosecution, had the sole authority to allocate or reallocate duties of the prosecutors.
Requesting anonymity, a prosecutor said some of the six prosecutors talked to MK Rahman to express their discontent over the chief prosecutor's move.
However, MK Rahman told The Daily Star last night, “I am not officially informed about the matter.
“As per my terms of reference, I am designated to allocate or reallocate duties and oversee the prosecutors' activities. If it [reallocation] was done [by the chief prosecutor], he didn't do it properly.”
Contacted, Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo refused to comment and urged The Daily Star correspondent concerned to have a look at the order he signed.
SIX PROSECUTORS
Syed Rezaur Rahman, a member of the Awami League advisory council, was active when the tribunal started its journey and worked as a conducting lawyer in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
But lately he had been preoccupied with the August 21 grenade attack cases, of which he is the chief prosecutor, and was rarely seen at the tribunals.
Mir Iqbal Hossain was the conducting prosecutor in the war crimes case against Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami. He was later replaced by Mohammad Ali for “poor performance”, sources said.
Before Iqbal, Altab Uddin Ahmed was the conducting lawyer in Nizami's case. Altab was once cautioned by the tribunal for making derogatory comments towards the defence during court proceedings. He was later replaced for “poor performance”, sources claimed.
Abdur Rahman claimed that he was involved in the cases against AKM Yusuf and Nizami but was seldom seen active in the tribunals.
Mohammad Ali was the conducting lawyer in the case against Abdul Quader Mollah but was later reassigned to Nizami's case. The tribunal on several occasions, however, expressed discontent during proceedings for his lack of preparation.
Last week, he made “derogatory comments” about his colleague Tureen Afroz and the prosecution office during an interview on TV.
Nurjahan Begum Mukta had assisted AKM Saiful Islam in the case against Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and was also involved in the case against ATM Azharul Islam.
She collected nomination paper from the ruling Awami League in November last year to contest the 10th parliamentary election and has been irregular at court since. She, however, claimed that she was sick.