Joj Miah complexity hinders hearing

A defence refusal to cross-examine Jalal Ahmed Joj Mia as a witness has halted the hearing in the Aug 21 grenade attack cases. Special court Judge Shahed Noor Uddin left the courtroom after the defence declined to cross-examine Joj Mia on Tuesday. The two cases – one for murders and the other for the use of explosives – filed over the attack on an Awami League rally in Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka on Aug 21, 2004, are now at the stage of recording witnesses’ statements. Scores of people were killed and over a hundred others, including present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was the opposition leader at the time, were injured in the attack. The judge of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 is hearing the cases at a special courtroom set up in the Dhaka Central Jail. Joj Mia was accused in the case and arrested on June 9, 2005, from Noakhali for his alleged involvement in the 2004 attack, according to a news agency.