International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) has awarded death sentence to Bagerhat Razakar Siraj Master, infamously known as `Koshai Siraj` for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. Meanwhile, the ICT-1 awarded life term imprisonment to Khan Akram Hossain, another Bagerhat Razakar, in the same case for committing same crimes during the war. An ICT-1 bench led by its chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim announced the verdicts on Tuesday. The other two members of the bench are Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Anwarul Haque. Siraj Master was found guilty in all the six charges brought against him while Akram Hossain was found guilty in one charge. According to the verdict, Siraj was given death in each of the five charges that included two of genocide and three of crimes against humanity. He can be either hanged or shot down. On the other hand, Khan Akram was found guilty in one charge of crimes against humanity against the three brought against him. He was awarded life in prison. They were indicted on November 5 last year on eight charges of crimes against humanity including genocide, murder, abduction and forceful conversion of Hindus into Islam in Bagerhat during the 1971 Liberation War. The other accused in the case is Khan Akram Hossain. The court earlier abated the third accused, Abdul Latif Talukder, from the charges as he died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on July 28.–risingbd.com
