War crimes suspect Sakhawat sent to jail
War crimes suspect Sakhawat sent to jail
War crimes suspect former BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Mawlana Sakhawat Hossain was sent to jail today a day after police arrested him from Uttar Khan of Dhaka.
International Crime Tribunal-1 passed the order this afternoon after police produced the former Jamaat lawmaker before the special court in the morning.
Following a plea from Prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon, the tribunal gave the prosecution one more month to submit the progress report on a probe into Shakhawat’s alleged war crimes.
Earlier on October 29, the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against Sakhawat and asked the prosecution for a progress report on the investigation in the suspect’s alleged crimes.
Sakhawat, 70, and former MP of Jessore-6 (Keshabpur) constituency, went into hiding for months.
Law enforcers arrested him at the ground floor of a house in Masterpara of Uttar Khan around 6:00pm yesterday, Yunus Ali, officer-in-charge of Uttar Khan Police Station, told The Daily Star.
An investigation agency assigned to probe the war crimes of 1971 received a number of allegations of murder, mass killing and other war crimes against Sakhawat.
The probe that started on April 1, 2012, was half way through and the report of the investigation would be submitted to the prosecution once it was done, sources said.
Abdur Razzaque Khan, investigation officer of the case, told The Daily Star yesterday that the probe against the suspect was now ongoing and they had gathered evidence of his “involvement” in wartime offenses.
“We are getting information of his alleged involvement in mass killing, rape, loot and other crimes,” he added.
Sakhawat's candidature in Jessore-6 constituency was cancelled over war crimes allegations after Jatiya Party had picked him for the January 5 parliamentary polls.
Locals and sources in the war crimes probe body say that Sakhawat was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student body of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971.
He joined the Razakar force during the Liberation War and was the in-charge of Hisladanga Razakar camp of Keshabpur, they allege.
After independence, Sakhawat went into hiding and resurfaced in 1986 as a local leader of Jamaat.
He contested the 1991 parliamentary polls with Jamaat ticket in Jessore-6 and was elected MP.
Later, he joined BNP and became a lawmaker again in the short-lived parliament formed through the February 15, 1996, elections. When BNP and Jamaat formed an alliance before the 2001 elections, he failed to secure nomination and contested the poll as an independent candidate.
He was expelled from BNP in connection with failing to maintain party discipline and he joined Jatiya Party afterwards.
ALLEGED WAR CRIMINAL SHAMSUDDIN SENT TO PRISON
The tribunal today sent another war crimes suspect Shamsuddin Ahmed to prison after police produced him before the court.
Shamsuddin Ahmed, 60, a lawyer of a Kishoreganj court, was arrested Thursday for his alleged crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.
International Crimes Tribunal Investigation Agency on November 25 submitted a probe report to the prosecution against Shamsuddin and his brother Nasir Uddin Ahmed.
According to the probe report, Shamsuddin and Nasir joined the Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani army, in 1971 and committed crimes in Karimganj of Kishoreganj.
The siblings were allegedly involved in mass killings, murder, loot, confinement and torture during the Liberation War.
Police are yet to arrest Nasir.