| 4 Jamaat leaders in war trial dock Tribunal orders keeping them in jail; order sought to arrest Sayedee
They are no stranger to court. They stood in the dock before. But their appearance at the International Crimes Tribunal yesterday marks a watershed. For it was the first time the four top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were in court as accused in the long-awaited war crimes trial. Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, Senior Assistant Secretaries General Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla were brought to the courtroom around 10:30am. During brief proceedings, the tribunal directed the prison authorities to keep them in custody until further orders in the first complaint case filed with it. The war crimes prosecution filed the case on July 25 under the International Crimes Tribunal Act, and prayed for arrest warrants against the four. In the case, they charged the Jamaat leaders with committing genocide and crimes against humanity and peace during the Liberation War in 1971. Some 25 lawyers led by Zainul Abedin, BNP leader and former secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, were at the tribunal to defend the four. Ghulam Arieff Tipoo led the seven-member prosecution panel. In their first move, the defence prayed for withdrawal of the arrest warrants. They also sought certified copies of the prosecution's complaint petition, all order sheets and relevant documents. The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Nizanul Huq did not accept their applications, as proper procedure was not followed in the filing of those. As per the court's instructions, the defence later submitted the applications to Registrar Md Shahinur Islam. The tribunal will tomorrow set a date to hear the prayers. Though the judges would fix the hearing date in their chamber, they convened the court tomorrow as the prosecution yesterday submitted the second complaint case, which is against Delwar Hossain Sayedee, another detained Jamaat leader. For yesterday's proceedings, security was tight in and around the old High Court building that houses the tribunal. The law enforcers swept the entire compound to make sure no explosives were planted. Despite the stringent measures, people gathered to see the four Jamaat leaders, the first ones to have been produced before the tribunal in the war crimes trial. Though the four are widely known, everyone tried to catch a glimpse of their faces when police placed them in the dock. While being taken to the court building around 10:00am, Nizami, Mojahid, Kamaruzzaman and Quader Molla formed a line as if they were in a pecking order. The tribunal allowed them to sit in chairs in the dock, which is unusual for someone facing trial. The quartet was given chairs and fan in the lockup as well. They also had access to a well-furnished toilet. While Nizami, Mojahid and Molla were in panjabis and pajamas, Kamaruzzaman came in shirt and pants. Mojahid, who drew a lot of flak in 2007 for claiming that anti-liberation forces never even existed, was calm like the other three. PROCEEDINGS The tribunal's session started at 10:32am. At the beginning, defence lawyer Zainul Abedin introduced himself to the court. After that, Tajul Islam submitted three separate applications on behalf of the defendants. Besides praying for recalling of the arrest warrants and seeking certified copies of all the documents in the case, the defence wanted permission for the accused to appoint someone to take necessary legal moves. The tribunal asked them to file their applications with the registrar. It then showed the detainees arrested in the first case. As per the rules of procedure of the tribunal, any information, oral or in writing, obtained by the investigation agency including its own knowledge relating to the commission of a crime comes under section 3(2) of the International Crimes Tribunal Act. Offences like war crime and genocide, crimes against humanity and peace like murder, abduction, confinement, torture and rape fall under this section. The tribunal on July 26 issued arrest warrants against the four Jamaat leaders. But later, it received a police report that the order could not be executed, as the four were already in prison in different cases. On July 29, the court directed the prison authorities to produce the Jamaat leaders before it yesterday. "Let the suspects be kept in custody until further orders in the aforementioned complaint case," tribunal's Chairman Justice Nizanul Huq said, pointing at the detainees in the dock. "They be remanded to prison with direction to produce them on call," he added. The defence at that stage asked for 10 minutes to discuss the matter with the detained leaders. But the court refused them saying, "Not today." The tribunal chairman said as the courtroom is small, everyone must cooperate in conducting the proceedings properly. He asked all to remain seated until the defendants were taken back from the courtroom and the judges left. Justices ATM Fazle Kabir and AKM Zaheer Ahmed are the other two members of the tribunal. In his reaction, Mofidul Hoque, a trustee of the Liberation War Museum, told The Daily Star, "It was a historic scene, as for the first time the enemies of humanity were standing trial. It was an extraordinary expression of the inherent strength of truth and justice." DEFENCE'S STATEMENT After submitting the applications to the registrar, defence lawyer Tajul Islam told reporters that the arrest warrants against the four were illegal. He added that section 22 of the tribunal's rules of procedure says an arrest warrant would be issued after cognisance of an offence is taken. Asked about section 9(1) of the rules that says the tribunal can issue a warrant during investigation for effective probe, the lawyer said there is no question of investigation as the tribunal does not even have a case before it. CASE AGAINST SAYEDEE The prosecution yesterday filed their second complaint petition to the tribunal registrar. The petition accuses Jamaat's Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee of genocide, crimes against humanity and peace in Pirojpur district during the Liberation War. The registrar said the prosecution has prayed for an arrest warrant against Sayedee for proper and effective probe. Sayedee has been detained since late July in other cases. The court will hear the petition tomorrow.
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