3 Sherpur al-Badar get life term

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 has sentenced three al-Badar members of Nakla upazila in Sherpur to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

Justice Md Shahinur Islam, chairman of the three-member panel of the ICT-1, delivered the verdict in a crimes against humanity case on Monday.

The verdict was passed in presence of the three accused — SM Aminuzzaman Faruk, Md Mokhlesur Rahman alias Tara and AKM Akram Hossain.

During the hearing of the case, lawyers Abdus Sobhan Tarafdar and Abdus Sattar Palawan moved for the defendants in the court while Prosecutor Razia Sultana Chaman represented the state.

Earlier on Sunday, the court set January 12 to pass the verdict. On January 24, Justice Md Shahinur Islam kept the judgment on CAV (curia advisari vult, a Latin legal term meaning the court awaits judgment), after the prosecution and defence concluded their arguments in the case.

On July 26, 2017, the investigation agency of the ICT-1 submitted a probe report investigating allegations of crimes against humanity against the four accused of Nakla.

On August 30, 2018, the tribunal framed four charges of crimes against humanity — namely murder, confinement, torture, and forced labour — against the four accused. Among the four accused, one accused Emdadul Haque Khawaja died during the trial.

Prosecutor Rezia Sultana Chaman pleaded to sentence the rest three accused to death, saying the prosecution was successful in proving the case against the accused.

In contrast, defence counsels Abdus Subhan Tarafdar and Abdus Sattar Palowan said that their clients should be set free as the prosecution failed to prove their arguments.

Prosecutor Razia Sultana Chaman, who brought the case before the tribunal, appealed for the trio to be sentenced to death, stating that the prosecution had effectively proven the case against the accused.