War tribunal judge’s home attacked
The village home of an international crimes tribunal judge in Chapainawabganj came under bomb attacks early yesterday, exposing once again the government’s failure in ensuring security of those involved in the trial of war criminals.
One petrol bomb and four hand-made crude bombs were thrown into the compound of the house of Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal-1, around 1:00pm, reported our Chapainawabganj correspondent.
Kabir’s family members were inside the house at Chamagram village of sadar upazila at that time but no one was hurt, said Fazle Kabir’s younger brother Golam Kabir.
The attack came in a series of events revealing the danger that war crimes witnesses, victims, prosecutors and even judges are facing amid a lack of security measures by the government.
Mostafa Hawlader, a key witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, succumbed to his stab injuries on Tuesday two days after he had been hacked in sleep at his Pirojpur home.
This death was followed by the torching of the village home of a senior Appellate Division judge, Surendra Kumar Sinha, at Kamalganj in Moulvibazar.
He was in the five-member bench of the Supreme Court, which on September 17 awarded the death penalty to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah for wartime offences.
Golam Kabir said the petrol bomb had smashed a windowpane of a room where six policemen were on guard.
Officer-in-Charge of Chapainawabganj Sadar Police Station Jasimuddin said police were suspecting Jamaat-Shibir men of making the attack.
Though justice seekers and campaigners of the war crimes trial have been demanding a law for the protection of witnesses, victims and others concerned, no such step has yet been taken.
For witness protection, the government only formed national and district committees that have reportedly been failing to assess the threats to the witnesses.
A number of prosecution witnesses received death threats in the last two years and, recently, bombs were exploded near the residences of several prosecutors.
Meanwhile, police have arrested three leaders and activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat, for their alleged involvement in setting fire to the village home of Supreme Court Senior Judge SK Sinha on Wednesday.
Saifur Rahman, 25, joint secretary of upazila unit Shibir and party activists Kamruzzaman, 35, and Fokrul Islam, 41, were arrested in Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar, reported our district correspondent.
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