War trial: Death for Siraj, Akram jailed until death

A special tribunal today found two Bagerhat Razakars guilty of war crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 found Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master guilty in five of the six charges brought against him.

Siraj Master was given death in each of the five charges that included two of genocide and three of crimes against humanity. He can be either hanged or shot down, the verdict said.

Khan Akram Hossain was found guilty in one charge of crimes against humanity against the three brough against him. He was awarded jail until death.

Justice M Enayetur Rahim-led tribunal began reading out the summary of 133-page verdict around 11:00am. Both the convicts were brought to the court premises around 9:00am.

One other Abdul Latif Talukder, who was also accused along with these two men, has been abated from the trial after he died while undergoing treatment at a Dhaka hospital a few days ago.

On June 11, 2014, police arrested the 68-year-old Latif in his home after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against Latif, Sirajul and Akram over crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

On November 5, 2014, ICT-1 indicted the three on seven charges of which four were brought against Sirajul alone, two against all of them for killing 47 people and one against Akram and Latif for killing a person. The accused, however, pleaded “not guilty” to the wartime offences.