Five Jamalpur war crime accused killed at least 17

Two prosecution witnesses in a case against eight alleged Jamalpur AL-Badr men over crimes against humanity yesterday testified hearing that five of them were involved in the killing of at least 17 people during the 1971 Liberation War.

The 15th and 16th witnesses, Malek Newaz and Mokhlesur Rahman, told International Crimes Tribunal-1 that they heard it from Mokhlesur's brother Saidur Rahman alias Sadhu Chairman who managed to escape and passed away last year.

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Ashraf Hossain, Prof Sharif Ahammed, Abdul Mannan, Abdul Bari, Harun, Abul Hashem, Shamsul Haque and SM Yusuf Ali face five specific charges. The two witnesses implicated Ashraf, Sharif, Mannan, Bari and Yusuf.

Al-Badr men along with the Pakistani occupation army entered Jamalpur's Moisha Bhaduria village on the night of July 7 and caught Malek's father Abdul Hamid, Shamsul Alam and Madhu and Sadhu and Hamid Khan of Baushi village, said the witnesses.

On the way to an Al-Badr training camp in Jamalpur Town, Shamsul and Madhu were released, they said.

One subedar of the camp released Abdul Hamid but Ashraf, Mannan, Sharif and Bari caught him from one Hazrat's house in Amlapara, shot him dead and threw the body in a river, said the two.

Mokhlesur's mother and sister-in-law went begged Yusuf to release Sadhu but to no avail, they said.

On July 22, the Pakistani army and Al-Badr members took around 16-17 people including Sadhu and Hamid Khan to a crematorium near the bank of the Brahmaputra river from the camp, said the witnesses.

"As Sadhu Chairman's handcuff got loosened, he dived into the river before the shooting and saved his life," said Mokhlesur, adding that the rest were killed. Proceedings were adjourned until today.