Tribunal gets probe report tomorrow
The investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is going to submit its report tomorrow on the crimes allegedly committed by the Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party during the 1971 Liberation War.
"We have completed our investigation into the allegations against Jamaat and will submit our report to the prosecution the day after tomorrow [Tuesday],” Sanaul Huq, a senior member of the probe agency, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The agency will also hold a press conference at its Dhanmondi office at 11:00am tomorrow to brief media on their findings.
After receiving the probe report, statements of witnesses and other documents, the prosecution will scrutinise these and submit formal charges before the ICT. The tribunal then will decide whether or not to accept the charges.
Meanwhile, a section of legal experts said the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act-1973 does not have any specific provision on punishment of any organisation and thus, the act should be amended to include such provisions before the trial begins.
Provision 20 (2) of the ICT act says, "Upon conviction of an accused person, the tribunal shall award sentence of death or such other punishment proportionate to the gravity of the crime as appears to the Tribunal to be just and proper".
However, Prosecutor Tureen Afroz contradicts this view.
Citing the General Clauses Act, she said Jamaat as an organisation could be punished for its crimes against humanity.
So, there is no necessity of amending the ICT act, she argued.
The agency began its investigation on August 18, 2013 into the war crimes allegations against Jamaat.
The Jamaat-e-Islami had stridently opposed the nation's demand for liberation from the oppression and misrule of the then West Pakistan rulers. Trial of the party has been a longstanding demand of the people of Bangladesh.
Matiur Rahman, the investigation officer of the case, told The Daily Star last week that he had found “evidence” of Jamaat's involvement in genocide and other crimes committed during the nine-month-long war.
In addition to submitting the probe report, the agency would suggest that the prosecution pray to the tribunal to ban Jamaat from politics and confiscate its properties, Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator of the probe agency, told the newspaper last week.
If the party is charged with war crimes, it would be the first such case in Bangladesh. However, the trial of a party or organisation for crimes against humanity or genocide is not unprecedented in the world history.
At the historic Nuremberg Tribunal in Germany, seven Nazi organisations, including the Reich Cabinet, Hitler's paramilitary force Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo, the secret police force of the Nazis, were tried for war crimes committed during the World War II.
GOVT TO WAIT FOR SC VERDICT: LAW MINISTER
Meanwhile, Law Minister Anisul Huq has said the government will decide on banning Jamaat-e-Islami only after the Supreme Court delivers the verdict in a case in this connection.
He said this at a "Meet the Press" programme organised by the Law Reporters Forum at Dhaka Reporters Unity office in the capital yesterday.
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