ICT seeks formal charge against 8 Jamalpur ‘Al-Badr’ men

A tribunal in Dhaka today asked prosecution to submit on April 13 the formal charges against eight suspected war criminals for their crimes against humanity during the country's Liberation War.

The three-member panel of International Crimes Tribunal-2 led by its Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan fixed the date when Prosecutor Tapos Kanti Baul prayed for more time to submite formal charge against them.

War crimes investigators on March 25 submitted the report to the prosecution against the eight "Al-Badr men" over their alleged involvement in wartime offences.

The agency also handed over statements of witnesses, and other documents to the prosecution.

They were "involved" in 10 incidents of crimes including abduction, torture, confinement and killings between April 22 and December 11, 1971, the investigators said.

The suspects are Ashraf Hossain, 64, Prof Sharif Ahmed, 71, Abdul Mannan, 66, Abdul Bari, 62, Mohammad Harun, 58, Abdul Hashem, 65, Shamsul Haque alias Badr Bhai, 75, and SM Yousuf Ali, 83.

Of the eight, police arrested Shamsul and Yousuf on March 2.

Of the remaining six, Ashraf is believed to have fled to India and five others are in hiding in Bangladesh, according to the investigators.