Evidence found against 8 Jamalpur 'Al-Badr men'

War crimes investigators yesterday said they had found evidence against eight Jamalpur "Al-Badr men" over their alleged involvement in crimes against humanity committed in Jamalpur during the 1971 Liberation War.

They were "involved" in 10 incidents of crimes including abduction, torture, confinement and killings between April 22 and December 11, 1971, Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator of the war crimes investigation agency, told reporters at its Dhanmondi office yesterday.

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The agency will hand over the probe report, statements of witnesses, and other documents to the prosecution today, Matiur Rahman, investigator of the case, told The Daily Star later. If the prosecution finds the documents and findings satisfactory, it will file formal charge(s) against the suspects to initiate the trial.

The suspects are Ashraf Hossain, 64, Prof Sharif Ahmed, 71, Abdul Mannan, 66, Abdul Bari, 62, Mohammad Harun, 58, Abdul Hashem, 65, Shamsul Haque alias Badr Bhai, 75, and SM Yousuf Ali, 83.

The investigation agency coordinator said Jamalpur and Sherpur were the "nucleus" in forming Al-Badr Bahini, an auxiliary force to the Pakistani army, and Ashraf, along with convicted war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Kamran, all leaders of Jamaat's then student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, organised Al-Badr force in greater Mymensingh.

Sharif Ahmed, Mannan, Bari, Harun, and Hashem were also involved in Chhatra Sangha and turned into Al-Badr members, said Hannan, adding that Sharif Ahmed was a director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd between 1987 and 2003, and executive and managing director of Bangladesh Publications Ltd, which owned the daily Sangram, between 1999 and 2013.

Sanaul Huq, a senior member of the agency, said Shamsul Haque, as a Jamaat candidate, ran for Provincial Assembly membership in the 1970 election from Jamalpur, and Yousuf Ali, also as Jamaat's candidate, contested for membership in the National Assembly. But both were defeated.

Yousuf Ali became a National Assembly member through a by-election in 1971, he said, adding that the duo patronised the Al-Badr Bahini in Jamalpur.

Police arrested Shamsul and Yousuf on March 2. Of the remaining six, Ashraf is believed to have fled to India and five others are in hiding in Bangladesh, said Sanaul Huq.