Two to die, three get jail unto death for war crimes

MOULVIBAZAR, Jan 10 (UNB): The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 on Wednesday sentenced two war criminals of Moulvibazar to death and three others to jail unto death.

A three-member judge panel headed by Justice Md Shahinur Islam pronounced the verdict in the morning.

Of the five convicted, Md Nesar Ali and Md Ujer Ahmed Chowdhury were awarded the capital punishment for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

Three others -- Shamsul Hossain Tarafder alias Ashraf, Yunus Ahmed and Mobarak Mia -- were sentenced to jail unto death.

Of them, Yunus and Ujer remain behind bars while the rest of them are on the run.

Nesar Ali and Ujer Ahmed were awarded death sentences on charge No. 5 out of total five charges for killing 14 members of a Hindu family at Kholagram in Rajnagar upazila during the Liberation War.

The 202-page judgment was read out by the tribunal judges starting from 10:30 am.

The ICT-1 on November 20, 2017 kept the verdict on CAV (curia advisory vault, a Latin legal term meaning the court awaits verdict), meaning the court can pass judgment any day.

The ICT-1 on June 9, 2016 took five charges pressed by the prosecution into cognizance.

Hearing on charge framing was held on November 2 of the same year.

The tribunal on December 8, 2016 indicted the five in the crimes against humanity case.

According to the prosecution, the accused ran havoc in the locality during the War of Liberation as the leaders of local Razakar Bahini and Al-Badr.