Witnesses still vulnerable

This Martyred Intellectuals Day is more special as only on Thursday night a war criminal was executed in Bangladesh for the first time.
And on November 3, a tribunal sentenced two Al-Badr leaders — Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan — to death for killing intellectuals.
However, the people who made the delivery of justice possible remain under threat from Jamaat-e-Islami and pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir.
A witness who testified in a war crimes case was killed. There have also been attacks on witnesses, bomb attacks on prosecution lawyers and arson attacks on homes of three judges, who dealt with war crimes cases. These expose the inadequate protection the state has provided for the war crimes witnesses, victims, prosecutors and the judges.
On Tuesday, Mostafa Hawlader, a key witness in Delawar Hossain Sayedee’s case died from his injuries, two days after being stabbed in his sleep at his Pirojpur home. His family members held Jamaat-Shibir men responsible for the killing.
Jamaat-Shibir men allegedly attacked the house of Mahabubul Alam Howlader, another prosecution witness in the case, on October 28. He survived by hiding in his attic when his home was stormed.
On December 11, a group of criminals set fire to the village home of Justice SK Sinha in Moulvibazar. The judge was a member of the Supreme Court bench that awarded Quader Mollah the death penalty.
The Chapainawabganj home of Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, who leads International Crimes Tribunal-1, was attacked on Thursday.
Jamaat-Shibir men also hurled a petrol bomb at the Senbagh, Noakhali, home of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim of Tribunal-1 early yesterday. None was hurt by the bomb which landed on the kitchen roof around 1:00am.
When The Daily Star sought an interview of a prosecution witness, who had testified in the war crimes against Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman, a family member of the witness said, “We are in trouble after testifying. We don’t want to face further problems [by giving an interview].”
The witness yesterday did not offer Friday (Juma) prayers at any mosque due to security concerns.
Mueen and Ashraf are hiding abroad — Mueen in London and Ashraf in New York. The government could not make any visible progress in bringing them back and there is little hope for that as laws of those countries do not support extradition of any condemned person.
Today marks the murders of the bright minds of Bangladesh just before the nation achieved victory on December 16, 1971, and Mueen and Ashraf played a significant role in it.
Sensing imminent defeat, the Pakistan army and their local collaborators, especially Al-Badr, picked up many eminent personalities, including academics, doctors, engineers, journalists and teachers, from their homes in Dhaka, and killed them.
On the eve of the day, President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia issued messages paying tributes to the martyred intellectuals and recalling their contribution in achieving independence of the country, reports BSS.
People from all strata of life are expected to pay their tribute to the martyred intellectuals by placing wreaths at the killing grounds of the capital’s Rayerbazar and Mirpur.