Justice comes after she goes

“I want them to be punished. My heart wants it.” This was possibly her only wish after she lost her husband during the Liberation War in 1971.

Noorjahan Seraji is no more. Aged 74, she passed away on December 21 last year, about seven months before the tribunal’s verdict that awarded Mojaheed the death sentence on July 17, 2013, for the killing of her husband Serajuddin Hossain and other intellectuals of the country in 1971.

Serajuddin Hossain was known as an eminent journalist in 1971, especially for his pro-liberation role.

When she lost her husband, Noorjahan was only 32. She had to struggle mightily in the next 42 years to raise her eight children even as she bore deep scars in her heart over the loss of her dear husband.

In an interview for “War Crimes File”, a documentary produced by a British television channel, Noorjahan expressed her wish to see the killers punished. She gave this interview about 20 years ago.

It remained her wish till her last breath, when Mojaheed’s case was already under trial. Her son Shahin deposed against Mojaheed in the hope of getting justice.

She had said, “I can only demand their punishment. I lost my husband and still carry the pain in my heart.”

When International Crimes Tribunal-2 on July 17, 2013, convicted Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujaheed for the abduction and killing of Hossain, she was not around to feel a sense of vindication at the judgement.

Eminent journalist Serajuddin Hossain, who was news editor of the then leading Bangla national daily Ittefaq, became the target of the Jamaat and Al-Badr for his write-ups on the sufferings inflicted on unarmed civilians through the atrocities committed by the collaborators of the Pakistan army.

Serajuddin Hossain

On the night of December 10, 1971, seven to eight youths, wearing ski masks and armed with rifles, abducted Serajuddin from his house in the capital’s Chamelibagh. He never returned home.

Mojaheed was president of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS) and was instrumental in forming the Al Badr force, a killing squad of the Pakistan occupation army.

He was a key leader of the Al-Badr force that picked up Serajuddin Hossain from his home.

In the documentary, Noorjahan Seraji  narrated the facts behind her husband’s abduction by the Al Badr killers on the night of December 10, 1971.

Noorjahan recalled that she heard banging on her door at night and opened the door.

“They asked my husband what his name was and about his place of work. And my husband replied, Ittefaq,” she said.

“There was one man with a muffler covering his face, except for his eyes. He was wearing a sweater and had big, bulging eyes. Then one of them rolled his eyes at the two others to indicate that this was the man,” she said.

After that, Hossain was dragged away from his home and Noorjahan was never to see him again.

She then waited for decades for justice to be done. Her only desire was to see the culprits punished.

Shahin Reza Noor, who testified against Mojaheed before the tribunal, expressed his satisfaction over the verdict. He regretted, though, that his mother was not around to see the war criminal found guilty.

“However, we are full of sorrow in our hearts as my mother, who died a few months ago,  could not hear of the verdict, despite having waited so long for it’” he said.

He said the government deserved appreciation for setting up the tribunal, which was part of its election manifesto. But he also warned the government that if the war crimes trials verdicts were not executed within its tenure, it would face difficulties at the next general election.

He urged the government to ensure proper security of the witnesses and members of the prosecution so they can come forward and testify to the heinous crimes perpetrated by the collaborators of 1971.

The judgment said it was quite evident that Al-Badr men had abducted Serajuddin.

Mojaheed, considering his position in the Islami Chhatra Sangha, had substantial authority over the Al-Badr force.

The court said Mojaheed, instead of preventing the crime, approved, endorsed, encouraged and provided moral support for the abduction of Serajuddin Hossain, who was later killed.

(This article was published on Thursday, July 18, 2013, a day after a war crimes tribunal sentenced Mojaheed to death for his crimes against humanity during 1971)