Defence counsel on Sunday concluded his argument seeking discharge of the detained
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-amir Delwar Hossain Sayedee from the war crimes case on 79 points saying that the charges pressed against him were ‘sweeping, indefinite and undefined.’
The prosecution began countering the defence pleas, saying specific charges had been pressed with the submission of adequate evidences which were enough for Sayedee’s indictment in accordance with the law.
The hearing in the first-ever proceedings for the indictment for the 1971 war crimes remained inconclusive and the International Crimes Tribunal, instituted for the trial of the war crimes, adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.
The prosecution on September 4 proposed the framing of charges against Sayedee on 31 counts for crimes against humanity and genocide in ICT Case-1/2011.
Seeking Sayedee’s discharge from the case, the defence counsel Tajul Islam said that Sayedee should be discharged from the case on 79 points including that the charges brought against him were neither defined in the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 nor made specific in the ‘formal charge’ and the proposal for indictment.
None can be charged with an offence which is not defined in the law, argued Tajul adding that before any indictment, the act must be amended.
The tribunal, however, told the counsel that the argument regarding the amendment to the act could not be a ground for discharging an accused from a criminal case.
He said that even the tribunal itself had on September 14 asked the prosecution under which section a charge could be framed against Sayedee.
Tajul argued that such a query from the tribunal proved that the law did not define the offences clearly.
He also contended that the prosecution had made a mess while interpreting some of the definitions of offences such as crimes against humanity and genocide under the act.
He said that the charges pressed against Sayedee for recognised international crimes such as genocide, robbery, arson, rape and murder were not specific.
The counsel argued that as per the requirement of law, the prosecution failed to mention the specific date, time and places of occurrences for many counts of the charges pressed against Sayedee.
Even in many cases, the prosecution did not furnish full particulars of the victims and prosecution witnesses, including their addresses, on the pretext of security grounds, he said.
Referring to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Tajul said that the charges needed to state the intention or purpose of the crimes and at the same time provide elements for substantiating the intention.
A murder does not constitute crimes against humanity unless the intention behind it clearly shows that it was directed against a certain group of people and the elements must substantiate that claim, he argued.
The defence counsel also argued that the prosecution did not specify any role of Sayedee in the alleged crimes.
Referring to Sayedee’s involvement in setting up a Razakar camp, the counsel argued that the prosecution had failed to explain how such an act could be defined as a crime against humanity.
He also asked how ‘forced conversion of the Hindu people to Islam’ could be a crime against humanity.
Countering the defence argument, prosecutor Syed Hyder Ali argued that sufficient ingredients and conclusive evidence, including the victims of atrocities, witnesses and documentary proof, of the charges pressed against Sayedee had been submitted to the tribunal.
Referring to the investigation report, the prosecutor further argued that Sayedee, ‘a genuine Razakar commander,’ also helped in the recruitment of Razakars, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, and invited the army by setting up makeshift camps in Pirojpur to commit crimes against humanity.
As no ambiguity exists about the allegations levelled against Sayedee, there is no impediment towards indicting Sayedee, he said.
Sayedee was present in the dock during the hearing in the tribunal.
Apart from Sayedee, Jamaat’s amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, also a lawmaker, have been detained, along with others, on charges of committing war crimes.
All of them have been interrogated at the government’s ‘safe house’ in Dhanmondi for a day each.
The tribunal, however, on March 31 granted bail to former BNP lawmaker and minister Abdul Alim on certain conditions.
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