A tribunal in Dhaka today accepted war crimes charges against nine including former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shakhawat Hossain while clearing three accused of the charges.

Five charges of war crimes committed in Jessore during the 1971 Liberation War were levelled against the 12.

Those who have been cleared of the charges are: Ajihar Morol, Akram Hossain and Moshiur Rahman.

The tribunal discharged the three saying that there were no specific charges against them, Prosecutor Rezia Sultana Chaman told The Daily Star after the decision of the International Crimes Tribunal-1 today.

On July 27, the prosecution pressed the charges against 12 people, showing four of them as arrested and the rest as fugitives.

The accused were allegedly involved in killing two persons, raping one and torturing two others in Keshabpur of Jessore. All the incidents took place in the Bangla month of Ashwin (between mid-September and mid-October) in 1971, according to the prosecution.

On June 15, the investigation agency of the tribunal said they had found "evidence" against the 12 of involvement in crimes against humanity.

According to the agency, Shakhawat was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, and a commander of Pakistani army's auxiliary Razakar force at Chingra Bazar camp.

First elected a lawmaker from BNP, he was later elected as an MP with Jamaat ticket. He however joined Jatiya Party later.

Law enforcers arrested Shakhawat at his house in Uttarkhan in the capital on November 29 last year.

On June 18, the agency handed over the probe reports, statements of the witnesses and other documents to the prosecution.