Nizami verdict tomorrow
Monday, 23 June 2014
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 is all set deliver the verdict in the case of crimes against humanity against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami on Tuesday. The ICT-1 set the date for pronouncing verdict through an order today (Monday). Justice M Enayetur Rahim, chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal-1, passed the order around 11:00am today. ‘Let the matter be fixed tomorrow for judgment and take measures to produce the accused before tribunal,’ Justice Enayetur Rahim said. Nizami, who has already been sentenced to death by a special tribunal in the 2004 Chittagong arms cases, was arrested on July 29, 2010, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. His trial began on May 28, 2012. On Aug 2, 2010, he was shown arrested for committing crimes against humanity. On Dec 11, 2012, the prosecution brought specific charges against Nizami and on Dec 28 the court took them into cognisance. Nizami, the incumbent chief of Jamaat, is charged with 16 counts of war crimes including murder, rape, looting, abetment and the massacre of Bengali intellectuals during the country’s Liberation War in 1971. The case’s hearing ended in November last year but ICT-1 ordered fresh arguments in the case last month in response to a defence petition filed for the sake of ‘justice’, report agencies.