Testimony of torture

Jibon Das had to renounce his faith to escape the atrocities of Khokon Razakar and his gang. But it was not enough for him. He later left home with his family and took refuge in India.
“I had to think about the safety of my young nieces,” Jibon told this newspaper over the phone in choking voice.
He testified against Khokon in the International Crimes Tribunal-1.

According to charge-11, Khokon inflicted inhuman torture on Kanai Lal Mondol, shot and injured him in July 1971.
Now 74, Jibon witnessed how the once Jamaat activist Khokon Razakar became a BNP leader Zahid Hossain Khokon and got elected as mayor of Nagarkanda municipality under Faridpur in 2011.
Khokon left the country in the same year when investigators started probing his alleged crimes against humanity.
Holding his trial in absentia, the ICT-1 yesterday found the fugitive guilty of committing crimes against humanity in some villages of Faridpur in 1971 and handed          him the death penalty on six charges.   
Locals in Faridpur celebrated the verdict by bringing out processions and distributing sweets among people. But Jibon only said, “We just hope he [Khokon] would be punished for his atrocities.”
Visiting Khokon's house at Nagarkanda yesterday, this correspondent found the entrance to the first floor of the two-storey building near Nagarkanda Govt Girls High School under lock and key. There were tenants on the ground floor.
His wife Ambia Begum claimed her husband is innocent. “He is the victim of a conspiracy as he was involved with BNP politics.”
“I don't know the whereabouts of my husband. He phoned me three to four days ago,” she told The Daily Star over the phone.
Another prosecution witness Kashem Matubbor, also the younger brother of slain freedom fighter Nuru Matubbor of Ishwardi village in Nagarkanda, said he was happy with the verdict.
He demanded the government implement the verdict after bringing Khokon back home.