War crimes trial
Charges against JP MP Hannan finalised
UNB
The investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has finalised five specific charges of crimes against humanity against Jatiya Party MP MA Hannan, his son and six others, reports UNB.
At a briefing at its Dhanmondi office yesterday morning, the investigation agency informed the media about the outcome of the investigation and the roles the accused played in committing the crimes in 1971. The accused were involved in five incidents of crimes involving torture, looting, killings and mass killings during the nine-month war, said Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator of the investigation agency.
The eight accused are - Hannan, 80, who is an lawmaker from Trishal (Mymensingh-7 constituency) and presidium member of JP, his son Mohammad Rafique Sajjad, Khandakar Golam Sabbir Ahmed, Mizanur Rahman Mintu, Hormuj Ali, Mohammad Abdus Sattar, Mohammad Fakruzzaman, and Khandakar Golam Rabbani, Of the eight, Sattar, Fakruzzaman and Rabbani remain at large, while the rest including Hannan were arrested on October 1 last year. Mohammad Motiur Rahman, the investigation officer, will submit the report to the prosecution in the afternoon.
On May 19 last year, Rahima Khatun, widow of martyr freedom fighter Abdur Rahman of Bailor Munshipara in Trishal upazila in Mymensingh, registered the case with the District Cognizance Court-1 against three people, including MA Hannan, 70, for allegedly committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. The case was filed with the Senior Judicial Magistrate Court No. 1 of Mymensingh under Section 3 (2) of International Crimes Tribunal Act 1973. Later, magistrate Ahsan Habib sent the case to the ICT in Dhaka.
In the case statement, Rahima alleged that Hannan, the then secretary of Mymensingh Peace Committee, an anti-liberation organisation, and other local collaborators, including Fakruzzaman and Rabbani of the Pakistani army, held her husband at Bhangnamari Char in Gouripur upazila on August 9, 1971.
Rahman was later taken to a torture cell set up by the Pakistani army on Bangladesh Agricultural University campus and Hannan himself shot him dead after torturing him, the complainant alleged. Jatiya Party Presidium Member MA Hannan was elected MP from Mymensingh-7 constituency (Trishal) in the 10th parliamentary elections held in 2014.
