2nd ICT for war crimes trial by Feb, says minister

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Law Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed Friday said the government has decided to set up a second tribunal to expedite trial of the perpetrators of "crimes against humanity" during the 1971 liberation war as the first one was already in session.
"Works are underway to set up the second tribunal by next month to reduce pressures on the existing one and expedite the trial process," he told BSS in an interview.
Ahmed said the huge Old High Court Building was already earmarked for war crimes tribunals relocating the Law Commission elsewhere which was housed there.
"We need to expedite the trial process reducing pressures on the lone International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) as investigations of several cases were completed and ready for trial," he said.
The law minister's comments came as the state minister for law Advocate Qamrul Islam last month said the government expected the war crimes trial to be completed in the shortest possible time and plans were underway to constitute the second tribunal shortly.
The law minister, however, declined to predict how long the tribunals might need to accomplish already lodged cases against seven high profile suspects belonging to Jama'at-e-Islam and main opposition BNP but said the progress of the process suggested several of them could be completed by June this year.
Sources at the special Investigation Cell of the ICT earlier said investigations were underway against more war crime suspects but they declined to disclose their names for the sake of investigation.
"More number of accused could be included in the list after investigations and therefore, another tribunal would be needed to expedite their trial," Ahmed said.
The first ICT was constituted in March last year along with a special investigation agency and a prosecution cell in line with the election pledges of the ruling Awami League to expose to trial the war criminals.
Five of the seven high-profile war crime suspects detained so far to face the trial belonged to Jama'at-e-Islami, while the rest two were of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The Jama'at leaders are party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Moulana Delwar Hossain Sayedee and assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
The two BNP leaders are Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury MP and former minister Abdul Alim.