Verdict on SQ Chy’s verdict leak case on Sept 15

A special tribunal fixed September 15 to deliver its judgment on war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s verdict leak case on September 15.

Judge KM Shamsul Alam of the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal fixed the new date on Sunday noon.

The accused in the case are SQ Chowdhury’s wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury, son Hummam Quader Chowdhury, counsel barrister Fakhrul Islam, manager Mahbubul Ahsan, Fakhrul’s assistant Mehedi Hasan, and war crimes tribunal’s office staff Faruk Ahmed  and Nayan Ali.

Of them, all but Mehedi - absconding since the filing of the case - were on bail.

Hummam had been picked up by plainclothes police from in front of the entrance of the Dhaka’s Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on August 4.

After the accused were indicted on February 15 this year, the special tribunal recorded the statements of 21 out of 25 prosecution witnesses.

DB police submitted the charges on August 28, 2014, but the indictment hearing was deferred a dozen times due to filing of time petitions by the defense repeatedly.

According to the charge sheet, the accused in connivance with each other leaked parts of the draft verdict from the tribunal chairman’s computer and uploaded it on different websites to make the war crimes trial controversial.