Witness implicates three in brother's abduction, torture

The 19th prosecution witness in a case against eight alleged Jamalpur Al-Badr men accused three of them of abducting and torturing his brother during the 1971 Liberation War.

Moreover, International Crimes Tribunal-1 rejected bail pleas of three of five men from Noakhali's Sudharam upazila facing three charges in a case over war crimes committed in 1971, and directed the jail authorities to provide them necessary treatment.

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JAMALPUR CASE

Shah Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdury said accused Abdul Mannan and Abdul Bari abducted his brother Rezaul Karim Chowdhury on a day in July 1971 and took him to a camp of the Pakistani occupation army inside Jamalpur Primary Training Centre.

His parents sought assistance from distant relatives, AKM Yusuf Ali and Advocate Shamsul Haque, two other accused who assured that Rezaul would be released, said the 65-year-old of Amlapara under Jamalpur sadar upazila.

Released 14 to 15 days later, Rezaul told him that arriving in the camp he saw seven to eight detainees inside a room and that accused Ashraf Hossain, Bari and Mannan along with some Pakistani army men killed the detainees that very night, he added.

Three or four days later, the three accused, along with several Pakistani army men, took Rezaul and four others to the Jamalpur cremation grounds and killed the four, said Jahangir.

Rezaul was spared after an army man intervened, and later released as Yusuf and Shamsul stepped in, he said, adding that there was an Al-Badr camp beside the army camp frequented by Ashraf, Bari and Mannan.

The tribunal adjourned proceedings until today after defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafdar completed cross-examining Rezaul.

The accused, including Prof Sharif Ahammed, Harun and Abul Hashem, face five charges. Shamsul and Yusuf are in jail while the rest absconding.

NOAKHALI CASE

Defence counsels submitted the bail prayers on January 18 citing health grounds. It was the second time Abdul Kuddus, 84, faced the rejection while it was a first for Md Joynal Abedin, 73, and Mohammad Yusuf, 60.

The three-member tribunal led by Justice Anwarul Haque fixed March 3 for the next hearing. Of the remaining two accused, Amir Ali, 70, is in jail while Abul Kalam alias AKM Mansur, 67, on the run.