Six suspects face trial in absentia

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday said the trial of six fugitive war crimes accused of Jessore, who did not show up within stipulated time after publication of newspaper advertisements, could be held in absentia.

The court may try the six men and three other arrestees from the district together since they face the same charges of crimes committed in Jessore's Keshabpur upazila during the Liberation War of 1971.

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The court also appointed two state counsels -- Abdus Shukur Khan and Qutubuddin Ahmed -- to defend the six fugitives and fixed November 17 for hearing the charges the prosecution filed against them.

All nine were alleged members of the anti-liberation Razakar force.

The fugitives are Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Md Mujibur Rahman, Kazi Ohidul Islam, Aziz Sardar, Aziz Sardar (2), and Abdul Khaleq Morol, while former BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shakhawat Hossain, Lutfar Morol, and Billal Hossain are in jail.

On July 27, the prosecution pressed five charges against the six fugitives and six others, including Shakhawat Hossain, but the tribunal later discharged three men -- Moshiar Rahman, Ajihar Morol, and Akram Hossain.

Meanwhile, defence counsels of Billal Hossain and Lutfar Morol filed bail petitions citing the poor conditions of their health, and the tribunal fixed November 17 to pass an order in this regard.