Bangladesh
War Crimes Trial - Saga Of Rare Courage And Justice
BY SOUTH ASIA MONITOR DECEMBER 19,
2016
By S. Binodkumar
Singh*
After 45 years,
justice was done on December 5, 2016, for crimes committed during the Liberation
War in 1971. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) handed down the death
penalty to Edris Ali Sardar aka Gazi Edris (67), a leader of the Islami Chhatra
Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).
Sulaiman Mollah aka
Soleman Moulvi (84) was also charged along with Sardar, but he died of old age
complications on October 26, 2016, during the closing arguments of the case.
Four charges were
proved beyond doubt against Edris who has been on the run — he was awarded
death on two counts, imprisonment for life in one and seven-year jail term in
another. The first charge that earned Edris death was for killing 200 Hindu
people by firing shots indiscriminately on May 22, 1971, in Shariatpur
District. The second charge earning him death was for killing 20 Hindus on May
23, 1971, in Madaripur District.
The third charge that
earned him life in prison was for torturing and killing Lalit Mohan Kundu and
Shuresh Goon by stabbing them with a bayonet in mid-June 1971, in Shariatpur
District. Edris was also awarded seven years’ rigorous imprisonment on a fourth
charge, for intimidating around 1,500 people into leaving Bangladesh between
March 25 and December 10, 1971.
Thus far, the War
Crimes (WC) Trials, which began on March 25, 2010, have indicted 74 leaders.
These comprise 44 from JeI; 12 from the Muslim League (ML); five from
Nezam-e-Islami (NeI); four from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP); two each
from the Jatiya Party (JP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); four former
Razakar members; and one former Al-Badr member.
Verdicts have been
delivered against 51 accused — these comprise 29 death penalties and 22 life
sentences. So far, six of the 29 convicts who were awarded the death sentence
have been hanged.
On September 3, 2016,
JeI central executive member Mir Quasem Ali (63) was hanged at Kashimpur
Central Jail in Gazipur District; on May 11, 2016, JeI Ameer (Chief) Motiur
Rahman Nizami (75) was executed at Dhaka Central Jail; on November 22, 2015,
JeI Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed (67) and BNP Standing
Committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (66) were hanged simultaneously at
Dhaka Central Jail; on April 11, 2015, JeI Senior Assistant Secretary General
Mohammed Kamaruzzaman (63) was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail; and on December
12, 2013, JeI Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah (65), who earned
the nickname ‘Mirpurer Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur)’ was hanged at Dhaka Central
Jail.
Twelve others are
absconding and another 11 cases are currently pending with the Appellate Division
of the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, out of 22
persons who were awarded life sentence, three persons have already died serving
their sentence — former JeI Ameer Ghulam Azam (91), who died on October 23,
2014; former BNP Minister Abdul Alim (83), who died on August 30, 2014; and
former JeI National Assembly member S.M. Yousuf Ali (83), who died on November
17, 2016. Another seven are lodged in various jails of the country.
Remarkably, on August
31, 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, reaffirming her determination to
continue the trial of war criminals, stated: “We have completed the trial of
Bangabandhu (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) killing case and executed the verdict. We
are also holding the trial of war criminals which Bangabandhu started and implementing
the judgments and we would continue it.”
On August 14, 2016,
five condemned killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — Syed Faruque
Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed and
Mohiuddin Ahmed — were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail.
Further, Minister for
Law Anisul Huq on December 11, 2016, said the government is drafting a law to
impound assets of war criminals. The families of war crimes victims and several
organisations — including the Ekattarer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and
Ganajagaran Mancha — which are demanding the death penalty for all war
criminals, have also been demanding confiscation of war criminals’ properties.
Nevertheless, on
September 8, 2016, Law Minister Anisul Huq cautioned: “The children of war criminals
are not innocent. They are hatching conspiracies and will continue it. We have
to remember that and stay alert against them. We have to continue our war
against their conspiracies.”
Further, on November
9, 2016, blaming anti-liberation forces and aides of BNP Chairperson Begum
Khaleda Zia for instigating attacks on Hindus, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim
observed: “The killers and looters who don’t believe in Bangladesh’s liberation
carried out the attack on the Hindus of Nasirnagar. The attack was aimed at
demeaning the Sheikh Hasina-led government and making Bangladesh look like it
is not safe for the Hindus. The attackers will be tried at the speedy trial
tribunal.”
On October 30, 2016,
more than 100 people were injured when some 3,000 local Muslim zealots, armed
with sticks and sharp weapons, vandalised and looted 17 temples and over a
hundred Hindu houses and business establishments in the Nasirnagar and Haripur
unions of Nasirnagar upazila (sub-District) of Brahmanbaria District.
On November 4 and 5,
2016, another six houses of Hindu families were set on fire in the same area.
Attacks on Hindus are not unusual in Bangladesh, but it is rare to see multiple
large crowds targeting temples in an organised way as they did on October 30,
2016.
Sheikh Hasina’s Awami
League (AL)-led government, which came to power on January 6, 2009, has shown
enormous courage in going ahead with the War Crimes Trials, and the completion
of this process will eventually prove to be an important chapter in the history
of Bangladesh, bringing some measure of justice to millions who had suffered at
the hands of the Pakistan Army and its collaborators in Bangladesh.
The War Crimes Trials
are the unfinished agenda of the Liberation War, and need to be sustained,
despite efforts of anti-liberation forces and their sympathisers in the
diaspora and international community to disrupt the process.
*S. Binodkumar Singh is a Research
Associate at the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management. Comments
and suggestions on this article can be sent to editor@spsindia.in
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