7 ministers among 13 shown arrested in genocide case
Thirteen individuals, including seven former ministers from the Awami League-led government, have been shown as arrested in a case filed at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) over alleged genocide during the student-led mass uprising in July and August.
The accused include former ministers Anisul Huq, Faruk Khan, Dr. Dipu Moni, Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haq Inu, Shajahan Khan, and Golam Dastagir Gazi; advisers to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and Salman F Rahman; former state ministers Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Kamal Ahmed Majumder; former army officer Ziaul Ahsan; former justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik; and former home affairs secretary Jahangir Alam.
They were presented before the tribunal on Monday morning. However, former minister Abdur Razzaq, who was scheduled to appear, was not presented as he remains in remand in connection with another case.
On October 27, a three-member tribunal panel, chaired by Justice Md. Golam Mortuza, issued an order to present the accused. The directive came in response to two separate petitions filed by the prosecution.
The panel also includes Justice Shafiul Alam Mahmud and Judge Md. Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury.
In a separate petition on the same day, the tribunal ordered that former army officer Ziaul Ahsan and six others be shown as arrested in a case involving crimes against humanity and presented before the tribunal. Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam represented the petition, accompanied by Prosecutors Gazi Monowar Hossain Tamim, B.M. Sultan Mahmud, and others.
More than fifty complaints of genocide and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed across the country between July 5 and August 5, were filed with the Investigation Agency and Prosecution Office of the International Crimes Tribunal.
The tribunal’s judicial proceedings formally began on October 17 with the issuance of an arrest warrant against Sheikh Hasina and 46 others on allegations of crimes against humanity.
