UNB, Dhaka :
Corroborating some other prosecution witnesses’ evidence, a Liberation War hero on Sunday accused Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Abdus Sobhan of stabbing three people to death after dragging them out of a mosque at Ishwardi, Pabna on April 17-18 during the Liberation War in 1971.
“Before the killing, all the three victims were taken to a local coal depot beside the central mosque where the captives had taken refuge with nearly 200 people fearing their lives from the Pakistan occupation forces and their cohorts,” recalled Fazlur Rahman Fantu before the International Crimes Tribunal -2 while testifying as PW-11 against Maulana Sobhan.
The three victims were Moazzem Hossain, father of freedom fighter Tahurul Islam (a PW), Motleb Ahmed Khan and his son Nazmul Huq Khan, the PW said. “I along with Tahurul had seen the horrific incidents from a nearby bush where we were hiding,” said freedom fighter Fantu. Recalling the violent operation carried out by Maulana Sobhan and his cohorts-activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Razakars, the PW told the tribunal that as a captive was brought near the coal depot, accused Sobhan took a machete from one of his cohorts and stabbed the man first, then his followers started chopping the victim until death. Before concluding his deposition,
Fantu identified detained Maulana Sobhan in the dock.
The deposition over, Fantu was cross-examined by defence counsel Mizanul Islam partially.
Replying to a defence question, the PW said he knew Maulana Sobhan long before as a very high profile leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, who was elected unopposed MNA in a bye-election arranged by Pakistan President Gen Yahiya Khan during the 1971 Liberation War, scrapping the 1970 election results.
The inconclusive cross-examination resumes Monday. On December 31, 2013, the tribunal framed charges against accused Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Sobhan for his involvement in crimes against humanity, including genocide, during the 1971 Liberation War, dismissing his discharge plea.
On September 19, 2013, after perusing the formal charge along with relevant statements and documents submitted by the prosecution, the tribunal took cognisance of the charges against Maulana Sobhan as it found a strong prima facie case against the accused under sections 3(2), 4(1) and 4(2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973. On September 20, 2012, Sobhan, the number three man in the Jamaat-e-Islami hierarchy, was held by the members of an army intelligence agency at the Bangabandhu Bridge toll plaza in Tangail in connection with a case of violence. Later, the accused was handed over to the police.
