Hearing in Azhar\\\'s case May 6

The hearing in the trial of Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, accused in cases filed for wartime offences, will be held on May 6. The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT), headed by Justice M Enayetur Rahim, passed the order as one of the prosecution witnesses in a war crimes case failed to show up in the court yesterday, apparently because of a severe heat wave sweeping the country. The prosecution cited the current hot spell for its inability to present its witness before the court. The defense did not object. The trial proceedings against the Jamaat Assistant Secretary General resumed at the three-member tribunal on Sunday afternoon. Prosecutor Tapas Kanti Bal submitted before the tribunal that they could not present their witnesses as some of them had fallen ill because of the sweltering heat and others could not leave home because of the illness of the members of their families. Sunday was fixed for cross-examining the 11th prosecution witness and others in a case filed against Azhar for committing crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s independence struggles in 1971. The last time the tribunal heard the case was on April 13, according to a news agency.