Prosecution asked to resubmit charges against Ghulam Azam

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The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Monday asked prosecution to resubmit charges against former Jama'at-e-Islami chief and key war crimes suspect Ghulam Azam within Jan 5, reports bdnews24.com. The three-judge panel ordered to rearrange the report before submission as it was not prepared in line with rules. The tribunal, headed by Justice Nizamul Huq, is expected to issue arrest warrant after the submission of the charges to the tribunal registrar. The prosecution appealed to the tribunal on Dec 12 to issue the arrest warrant for the Jama'at leader, who lives in Maghbazar, after submitting a 52-point charter of charges to the panel. The tribunal accepted the charges and forwarded the charges to the court's registrar. On Nov 1, the prosecution informed the court that they had received an investigation report on the 89-year-old Azam and that they were working on it. They had also handed in a copy of the report for the tribunal's record. The chief coordinator of the tribunal's investigation unit Abdul Hannan Khan had said they had recommended his arrest. There are 40 witnesses in the 360-page report on Ghulam Azam and over 400 documents. Mr Khan also pointed out that since the alleged crimes were committed 40 years ago, the investigators had collected all kinds of documents available from those times, in addition to testimonies of 40 witnesses. The prosecution said the submission of formal charges against the former Jama'at chief "reflected people's desire" to see the war criminals tried. The prosecution says it has evidence of Azam's direct involvement with more than 100 crimes in 52 different incidents involving the 1971 independence war.