BartaBangla Report :: The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Wednesday set August 29 whether it would indict detained Mir Quasem Ali, a Jamaat-e-Islami policymaker, for ‘committing crimes against humanity’ during the 1971 Liberation War.
With the accused in the dock, the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, passed the order after closing the hearing on charges from both the defence and prosecution.
Nearly three months ago, on May 26, the tribunal took cognisance of the charges made against Quasem Ali, also chairman of private television channel Diganta (operation now suspended) as it found a strong prima facie case against the accused under section 3(2), 4(1) and 4(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.
The accused Jamaat leader faces 14 counts of charges of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
According to the prosecution, Mir Quasem Ali, the then Chittagong district head of Al Badr, a vigilante group of Jamaat-e-Islami, had perpetrated crimes against humanity like killing, looting, abduction, persecution, genocide, rape and setting fire to the houses of unarmed civilians during the Liberation War in collaboration with Pakistan occupation army.
Al-Badr, widely known for planned killing of intellectuals at the fag end of the war, was made up of members of Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS), the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. Accused Quasem was a front-ranking leader of ICS in 1971.
The war-crimes accused had also set up makeshift torture camps at different places in the port city where freedom-loving people were handed down punishment.
Plainclothes police arrested Quasem Ali from a newspaper office in the capital hours after the tribunal issued warrant for his arrest on June 17 last year.
Designated ICT investigator M Nurul Islam, Assistant Police Super, started investigation against the accused on July 26, 2010.
Jacky Davis, second secretary at the British High Commission here, was present in the tribunal to witness the trial proceedings.