'Bachchu Razakar' to be hanged for war crimes

FE Team | Published: January 22, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Abul Kalam Azad alias 'Bachchu Razakar'

The International Crimes Tribunnal-2 in its first judgment Monday awarded death penalty, in absentia, to Abul Kalam Azad alias 'Bachchu Razakar' for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, 40 years ago, report agencies. ICT chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan pronounced the 112-page judgment amid unprecedented security. Flanked by two other members -- Justice M Mozibur Rahman Miah and Judge M Shahinur Islam -- the ICT chairman later read out the summary of the judgment in an overcrowded courtroom for 65 minutes. The 66-year-old Islamic cleric and expelled Jamaat-e-Islami leader was found guilty of the offences of crimes against humanity, including confinement, persecution, murder, rape and genocide, said the judgement. The conviction and death sentence under section 20 (2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 will be carried out through hanging by neck till death, the tribunal order said. Since the convict is on the run, the tribunal order said, the capital punishment shall be executed after his arrest or on his surrender before the tribunal, whichever is earlier. Referring to section 20 (3) of the ICT Act 1973, the tribunal in its order said the sentence shall be carried out in accordance with the orders of the government. Azad's state appointed counsel, Abdus Shukur Khan, said the accused does not reserve the right to appeal in absentia. "However, he may appeal against the sentence when he is arrested or surrenders." When asked whether he would file a review application, Shukur Khan said he would not. According to law, one can appeal against a verdict within a month. But Azad will not get the chance if he does not surrender or is arrested. Tight security was put in place ahead of the verdict. The court had to move to ICT-1 as the second war crimes tribunal could not accommodate everyone. The ICT-2 chief read out the verdict in a jam packed courtroom after requesting everyone to cooperate in presence of other judges of the tribunal. Trying the war criminals was an election-time commitment of the ruling Awami League. The Awami League-led 14-party alliance expressed satisfaction over the verdict. "The reaction of the 14-party alliance was expressed at its meeting," said Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif. Main opposition BNP has not given any official reaction to the verdict, as its senior leaders say they are awaiting details of the judgment. BNP Joint Secretary-General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said party's senior leaders would give an official reaction later. Tribunal officials said Maulana Azad's family failed to co-operate with his court-appointed defence lawyer, and they did not provide any witnesses to testify on his behalf. As a result, the case was concluded fairly quickly. The government set up the first tribunal on Mar 25, 2009 and the second tribunal was set up three years later to expedite the trials. The tribunals have been dealing with nine such cases since then. Two more cases are close to verdicts. The prosecution on Sept 2 had submitted formal charges linking Azad to crimes against humanity including genocide, murder, rape, arson, loot, abduction, deportation and persecution. The tribunal order said it has been proved from the testimony of prosecution witnesses that the accused had directly participated in committing the crimes as an armed member of Razakar force. In the order, the tribunal observed that Jamaat-e-Islami, as an organisation, substantially contributed towards creating para-militia (auxiliary force) for combating the unarmed Bangalee civilians in the name of protecting Pakistan. Undeniably, the road to freedom for the people of Bangladesh was arduous and torturous, smeared with blood, toil and sacrifices, contended the tribunal, adding that in the contemporary world history, perhaps no nation paid as dearly as the Bangalees did for their emancipation. The perpetrators of the crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War could not be brought to justice and this left a deep wound on the country's political psyche and the whole nation, noted the tribunal. The impunity the perpetrators enjoyed held back political stability, saw the ascend of militancy, and destroyed the nation's Constitution, observed the tribunal. Terming the day a historic occasion in the judicial history of Bangladesh, the tribunal said the ICT-2, a lawfully constituted domestic judicial forum, after dealing with the matter of prosecution and the trial of internationally recognised crimes like crimes against humanity and genocide which were perpetrated in 1971 in the territory of Bangladesh during the War of Liberation is going to deliver its first verdict. On March 22 last year, the government constituted the ICT-2 for the speedy disposal of the war crimes cases. The first ICT was set up on March 25, 2010. On March 25 last year, the second three-member ICT went into pretrial judicial proceedings in connection with war crimes-suspect Bachchu Razakar case at the Old High Court building. On October 7 last year, the ICT-2 decided to try accused Bachchu in absentia as he defied the tribunal's order to show up to face the trial. On November 4 last year, the tribunal indicted fugitive Abul Kalam Azad with eight counts of charges for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.