Mojaheed asked Chhatra Sangha men to join Al Badr in '71
Prosecution tells war crimes tribunal
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed had called upon members of Islami Chhatra Sangha, a pro-Jamaat student body in 1971, to join Al Badr during the Liberation War, the prosecution told the International Crimes Tribunal yesterday.
As a commander of Al Badr, he also visited its training camps at different parts of the country, said prosecutor Mukhlesur Rahman, reading the charges against the Jamaat leader at the court.
Al Badr, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, went on to commit murders, rapes, robberies, and arsons, and collaborate with the Pakistani soldiers in carrying out atrocities during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, the prosecutor said.
Jamaat Secretary General Mojaheed is facing 34 charges of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War. He was produced before the court for yesterday's proceedings.
Following the court proceedings yesterday, prosecutor Mukhlesur Rahman told journalists that Mojaheed was also involved in a mass murder in Faridpur in 1971.
The prosecutor yesterday began reading out the formal charges before the three-member tribunal set up to deal with crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War.
He finished reading 23 pages out of the 109-page formal charge submitted earlier.
However, the tribunal headed by its Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq adjourned the hearing till March 20. The adjournment came following frequent requests from Mojaheed's defence counsels who said they were not prepared for the hearing because they could not go through all the documents provided by the prosecution, some of the documents were missing and many were illegible.
After yesterday's proceedings began at 10:36am, Munshi Ahsan Kabir, a defence counsel of Mojaheed, came up with a few petitions requesting the court to direct the prosecution to provide them with some missing documents and legible copies of certain documents.
The counsel also petitioned for a further adjournment as he introduced newly appointed defence counsel Nazrul Islam.
Prosecutor Mukhlesur Rahman read out the formal charges. The defence, however, continued their mild protests.
The prosecution will continue reading the formal charges on March 20.
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