It was a busy year at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 as the now lone tribunal pronounced judgement in six cases of crimes against humanity, sentencing 12 war criminals to death for their monstrous crimes in 1971.
The first judgement came from the three-member tribunal on February 2, as it sentenced Netrokona Razakar duo Obaidul Haque Taher and Ataur Rahman Noni to death as four out of the six charges against them were proved beyond any doubt.
“…they are held guilty of the offences of ‘ crimes against humanity ‘ as enumerated in section 3(2)(a)(g) and (h) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 as listed in charge nos. 03 and 05 and they be convicted accordingly and sentenced there under to death for each of the said two charges and the said sentences of death be executed by hanging the accused persons by the neck or by shooting them till they are dead, as decided by the government, under section 20(2) of the said Act,” the verdict said.
On May 3, the tribunal sentenced Kishoreganj Razakars Gazi Abdul Mannan, 88, Nasiruddin Ahmed, 62, his brother Shamsuddin Ahmed, 60 and Hafiz Uddin, 66, to death for their 1971 crimes, while handing down imprisonment for life to their cohort Azharul Islam, 60.
Habiganj Razakar commander Mohibur Rahman alias Boro Miah was sentenced to death while his younger brother Mozibur Rahman Angur Miah and cousin Abdur Razzak received sentences of imprisonment till natural death on June 1.
On July 18, the ICT-1 sentenced three 1971 killers of Jamalpur Al-Badr Bahini, Md Ashraf Hossain, Md Abdul Mannan and Md Abdul Bari, to death and their five cronies Prof Sharif Ahmed, Md Harun, Md Abul Hashem, Advocate Shamsul Haque and SM Yusuf Ali to imprisonment till natural death.
The first tribunal on August 10 sentenced former BNP and Jamaat lawmaker from Jessore Mawlana Sakhawat Hossain to death and imprisonment till natural death to his seven cohorts for committing crimes against humanity in 1971.
“The sentence of death awarded as above in respect of charge number two and four be executed by hanging the convict accused Md Sakhawat Hossain by the neck or by shooting him till he is dead, as decided by the government,” said Justice Anwarul Haque, chairman of the three-member panel of the ICT-1.
The other seven accused are Billal Hossain, Md Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Md Mujibur Rahman, Md Abdul Aziz Sarder, Qazi Ohidul Islam alias Wahidur Salam, Md Aziz Sarder and Abdul Khalek Morol. ICT-1 left the name of another accused Lutfor Morol out of the judgement as he died of a cardiac arrest in police custody on May 6, 2016.
In its last judgment of the year, the ICT-1 on December 5 sentenced fugitive Razakar leader from Shariatpur Idris Ali Sardar to death for committing crimes against humanity in 1971.
Meanwhile, two top war criminals including the now former ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, Matiur Rahman Nizami, were hanged in 2016 for committing crimes against humanity in 1971.
Nizami was hanged 12 midnight on May 10. The Al-Badr chief was sentenced to death by the ICT-1 on October 29, 2014. He later filed an appeal with the apex court against the tribunal verdict. But the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on January 6, 2016, dismissed his appeal.
In his last legal efforts to save the neck he then sought to get the judgment reviewed by the apex court itself, which “dismissed” his last appeal clearing ways for him to walk to gallows on May 5.
Nizami’s party colleague and Al-Badr commander Mir Quasem Ali was hanged in Kashimpur Central Jail on September 3, 2016, for his crimes against humanity during 1971 Liberation War, siding with Pakistani troops.
The now defunct ICT-2 sentenced Ali to death on November 2, 2014. Dismissing an appeal of the Jamaat moneyman, the apex court on March 8, 2016, upheld his death. On August 30, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court scrapped his review plea as well.
