Police arrested Jatiya Party lawmaker MA Hannan, his eldest son and three other war crimes accused yesterday, hours after a special tribunal issued arrest warrants for eight people.

MA Hannan, 80, lawmaker from Trishal (Mymensingh-7 constituency) and presidium member of Jatiya Party, was arrested at his Gulshan home and his son Rafique Sajjad, 62, was picked up from his Gulshan office around 4:00pm, said Rafiqul Islam, assistant commissioner (Gulshan Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Hannan, the alleged general secretary of Mymensingh district Peace Committee, an anti-liberation organisation in 1971, is the second incumbent lawmaker arrested in connection with war crimes committed during the Liberation War. BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was shown arrested in a war crimes case in December 2010 when he was a lawmaker of the then opposition party in the parliament. He is now on death row.

Jatiya Party is the main opposition in parliament and three of its lawmakers are members of the cabinet of the Awami League-led government. JP Chairman HM Ershad himself is the special advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Mymensingh police also arrested Khandakar Golam Sabbir Ahmed, 69, of Golkibari Road, Mizanur Rahman Mintu, 63, of RK Mission Road in Mymensingh Sadar upazila and Hormuj Ali, 73, of Sanmuk Boilar of Trishal upazila in the district, reports our district correspondent.

A team of Kotwali police arrested Sabbir and Mintu from their homes around 4:30pm, said Kamrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station. Hormuj Ali was arrested at his village home around 4:00pm, said Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Trishal Police Station.

Three other accused -- Mohammad Abdus Sattar, 64, of Jail Road, and Mohammad Fakruzzaman, 61, of College Road, and Khandakar Golam Rabbani, 63, of Golkibari Road -- were yet to be detained, prosecution and investigation agency sources said.

THE CASE

On May 19 this year, Rahima Khatun, widow of martyred freedom fighter Abdur Rahman of Bailor Munshipara in Trishal upazila, filed a case against three people, including MA Hannan, for killing her husband in 1971.

The two other accused in the case were Fakruzzaman and Rabbani.

Rahima, in the case, said Hannan and other local collaborators of the Pakistan army, including Fakruzzaman and Rabbani, took her husband away on August 9, 1971. He was taken to a torture cell set up in what is now the Bangladesh Agricultural University. Later, Hannan himself shot him to death there.

Hannan had also set up torture cells at his Natun Bazar house in Mymensingh town and Mymensingh District Council Rest House to torture freedom fighters and pro-independence people, her case read.

After recording the complaint, a Mymensingh court sent the case to the international crimes tribunal in Dhaka for necessary action.

Based on Rahima's case, the investigation agency of the tribunal started the probe on July 28 this year and found evidence of involvement of another five people in war crimes committed in the district during the war, investigation agency sources said.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1, led by Justice Anwarul Haque issued the arrest warrants against the eight accused following a prosecution's petition yesterday.

Prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon, who moved the petition, said investigation officer Motiur Rahman found evidence of their involvement in war-times crimes, including murders, torture and confinement.

The eight accused need to be detained for "fair and proper investigation", he said.

The tribunal fixed November 17 for passing its order.

War crimes suspects of Mymensingh Khandakar Golam Sabbir Ahmed, 69, right, and Mizanur Rahman Mintu, 63, at the district's Kotwali Police Station after their arrest yesterday. Photo: Star

THE CRIMES

Prosecutor Simon said Hannan was a top leader of Mymensingh Muslim League, a party which had taken a stance against Bangladesh's liberation, and Hannan was the general secretary of Mymensingh Peace Committee.

When people were fighting the Pakistan army and their local collaborators, Hannan took part in a so called by-election held in 1971 and became a Member of National Assembly of Pakistan, Simon said.

An investigation agency source said Hannan and his son equipped with arms used to travel in a Pakistan-flag mounted open top 4x4 during the Liberation War and killed many freedom fighters and pro-liberation people.

Hannan's house in Mymensingh was used as an arsenal for Razakars, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, the source said. The other accused of the case were Hannan's "close aides" in 1971 who committed numerous crimes, the source added.

Sanaul Huq, a senior member of the probe agency, told The Daily Star that Hannan regularly visited the torture camps set up at Mymensingh District Council Rest House and in what is now the Bangladesh Agricultural University campus during the war and used to give instructions for the "annihilation" of pro-liberation people detained there.

After the war, Hannan fled but resumed his political career after joining HM Ershad's Jatiya Party in the 1980's, he said.

COMMENTS AND REACTION

It was not possible to get Hannan's comments yesterday but after the filing of the case by Rahima, he refuted the allegations terming the case "totally false, motivated and fabricated by a vested quarter".

"I had no such involvement …," Hannan had said, adding, "If I were involved in such crimes, cases would have been filed against me after the independence."

Hannan said he was a Muslim League leader in 1971 and had received general clemency from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after liberation. He kept mum when asked why he had received the clemency when, according to him, no case was filed against him.

Contacted, Raushan Ershad, opposition leader in parliament, said she did not know anything about Hannan.

"Party Chairman HM Ershad gave him nomination and you should ask him [Ershad] to know about Hannan," said Raushan, who is also a lawmaker from Mymensingh.

The Daily Star could not reach Ershad or JP Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu despite repeated attempts.

Two Jatiya Party former lawmakers -- Syed Mohammad Qaisar and Abdul Jabbar -- have been convicted of war crimes by special tribunals while another Jatiya Party leader Shakhawat Hossain is facing war crimes charges.