Thursday, September 29, 2011
Aug 21 Confession Withdrawal
Hannan submitted no legal petition
Chaitanya Chandra Halder and Ashutosh Sarkar
A petition filed by detained Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan for withdrawing his additional confessional statement in the August 21 grenade attack case is not valid or cognisable.
The media, over the last two days, reported that Hannan filed the petition with a Dhaka court on Tuesday for withdrawal of the statement given on April 7 this year.
But The Daily Star found that proper legal procedure that a detained individual is supposed to follow for filing such a petition was not adhered to.
Judge Shahed Nooruddin of Speedy Trial Tribunal-1of Dhaka on Tuesday told Hannan's lawyer immediately after the submission that there was no legal basis for the petition since proper procedure had not been followed.
The judge however asked the bench assistant of the court to keep the papers in the case file.
Tuesday was fixed for charge framing hearing in the case, but the court deferred the hearing date.
After completion of the court proceedings when the judge was about to leave the courtroom, Hannan's lawyer Lutfor Rahman Sheikh placed some papers before the judge.
Among the papers, nine pages gave a description of torture on Hannan during his remand and prayed for withdrawal of his additional statement where he had implicated BNP leaders Tarique Rahman, Lutfozzaman Babar, and Harris Chowdhury, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, and others in the grenade attack with the aim of killing Sheikh Hasina.
At the end of the nine-page application, the name of Hannan was hand written. But there was no other required signature of the authorities of the jail or the court.
Another paper that was submitted along with the nine pages was not signed by Advocate Lutfor but his name was written at the bottom of the paper where he mentioned in a line that Hannan wants to withdraw his additional confessional statement.
Some legal experts said any detained accused must take permission from the jail authorities or the court before submitting any petition in connection with a case.
Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman, chief prosecutor in the case, told The Daily Star that if any detained accused wants to submit any petition, he or she must submit it through the jail authorities.
But Hannan's petition was submitted on his behalf without any authorisation from the jail authorities, he added.
He said Hannan could seek permission from the tribunal for submission of the petition, but he did not do that either. So the petition has no legal basis, he said.
Hannan's counsel Lutfor Rahman Sheikh however said his client filed the petition properly. But, he did not give any satisfactory answer to the question about whether Hannan signed the petition.
Court sources confirmed yesterday that no legal procedure was followed in submitting the petition.
Hannan first gave a confessional statement on November 1, 2007 disclosing Huji's involvement in the grisly grenade attack on August 21, 2004 on an Awami League rally.
In 2008, during the caretaker rule, the Criminal Investigation Department submitted a charge sheet accusing 21 Huji men including Hannan, and also a BNP leader.
But the investigation was not completed as the investigators could not find the source of the grenades. Following prosecution's prayer, a Dhaka court gave an order for further investigation in 2009.
During that further investigation, in April this year Hannan gave the additional confessional statement, after which the CID submitted a supplementary charge sheet accusing 30 others including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's son Tarique, BNP's former state minister for home Babar, Khaleda's former political secretary Harris, Jammat leader Mojaheed, and some former top police and intelligence officials.
Although the unsigned papers submitted by Lutfor on Tuesday claimed that Hannan had to give the confessional statements under tremendous torture and pressure, the papers only sought to withdraw Hannan's additional statement where Tarique and other BNP leaders were implicated in the crime. The defence did not seek withdrawal of Hannan's first confessional statement.
Related:
তারেক জড়িত নয় বলে বিএনপির দাবি বিভ্রান্তিকর
Background:
Aug 23, 2011
... "I'd only say
Joj Miah's story was nothing but a staged
drama," said Akand, who
submitted the latest supplementary charge sheet in July.
...
__._,_.___
