Trial of Jamaat ex-chief begins for war crimes

By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka

Ghulam Azam being taken to tribunal hearing from jail

The trial of former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam began yesterday with the opening statement of the prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 in Dhaka.Reading from the 142-page charge-sheet, Golam Arif Tipu, the chief prosecutor, said the former Jamaat chief is a self-confessed criminal, as on May 13 he confessed before the court that he was a collaborator but pardoned by the then Bangladesh government.“Ghulam Azam is the main culprit who helped the Pakistani forces to commit crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war. He managed to escape the trial for the last four decades,” Tipu said.He added that by this trial of Azam, the rule of law was being established.By forming peace committee, Razakar, Al-Badr, Al-Shams, Azam actively took part in the genocide during the liberation war, alleged the chief prosecutor.“We want to prove that during liberation war Azam collaborated with Pakistani troops, hatched conspiracy against the people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and also encouraged the Pakistani occupation army to commit crimes against humanity,” Tipu said.He cannot escape the charges, he added.While reading out the opening statement, prosecutor Sultan Mahmud said that Azam by his all-out support towards the Pakistani occupation army had actively contributed in committing crimes against humanity. “He contributed the most in forming forces like Razakar, Al-Badr, Al-Shams and peace committee,” Mahmud said.On November 22, 1971, Azam fled to the then West Pakistan and formed a group named “East Pakistan Recovery Committee”. “In the mid-1973 he went to London and continued his anti-Bangladesh activities. He collected money from the Middle Eastern countries in the name of building mosques and madrasas in Bangladesh but used it in his activities,” the prosecutor said.In the middle of proceedings Azam was sent back to the jail by the tribunal granting a prayer of his counsels, as he was feeling sick.Justice Nizamul Haque, chairman of the tribunal, fixed June 24 for the deposition against Azam after hearing the opening statement of the prosecution. On May 13, the tribunal framed charges against Azam, considered by many as the symbol of war crimes during the liberation war, on five charges of crimes against humanity. The charges were based on 61 incidents of crimes against humanity. But after a long “political statement” Azam rejected the war crime charges calling them “politically motivated” as the tribunal asked him if he was “guilty or not”. “I don’t think myself guilty,” Azam said after the court asked him to reply to the question precisely as he began to make a “long political statement”.Now wheelchair-bound, Azam, 89, was the provincial minister under the Pakistani junta in 1971 and was stripped of his Bangladeshi nationality after the independence of Bangladesh. The prosecution earlier described him as the “key collaborator” of the then Pakistani junta alleging he masterminded the atrocities including genocides or mass murders of Bengalis during the liberation war. He was arrested on January 11, 2012. Azam’s party opposed Bangladesh’s 1971 independence movement with many of its activists joining the Pakistani forces while the prosecution brought 52 allegations of war crimes against Azam. Azam got his nationality back after a legal battle on his return home in 1978 when he also resumed his position as the head of the Jamaat-e-Islami. In a recent television interview, he, however, denied the charges saying, “I did not do anything for which I will have to tender apology to the nation.” Eight high-profile war crime suspects have been detained so far to face trial for crimes against humanity since Bangladesh constituted the tribunal in March last year along with the special investigation agency and a prosecution cell in line with the election pledges of the ruling Awami League to bring war criminals to book.