DHAKA: Detained Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretaries-general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Mollah were Wednesday taken on five days’ remand for interrogation in a belated case of war crimes.
Metropolitan Magistrate Roksana Begum Happy passed order granting the remand after detective police produced the two top Jamaat leaders in her court under the jurisdiction of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court at about 3:45pm with 10 days’ remand prayer.
The two were run in Tuesday from the High Court gate for their alleged crimes during the 1971 Liberation War in what happens to be the first arrest of prominent politicians on war-crime charges of late. The murder case was filed against them with Pallabi Thana.
They had earlier secured High Court orders directing government “not to harass” them in two other criminal cases until further order.
An HC division bench comprising Justice Afzal Hossain Ahmed and Justice MA Hafiz passed the orders upon two separate petitions for bail in the two cases.
The cases were filed against them on charges of obstructing police from discharging their duties and the killings during the ‘71 Liberation War. The cases were filed with Shahbagh police station on June 29 and Keraniganj police station on December 17, 2007.
On January 25, 2008, a freedom fighter, Amir Hossain Mollah, filed a case with Pallabi Thana accusing some 80 persons for killings and arson attacks during the 1971 Liberation War.
The two arrests on charges of wartime crimes were made at a time when the present government has formed war crimes tribunal and made budgetary allocation for trying war criminals on charges of “crimes against humanity” as per its election pledge.
Already-arrested Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary-General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid are also accused in the case, but they are detained in other cases.
Matiur, Mojahid and Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameed Delwar Hossain Sayedee were arrested on June 29 on charge of hurting Muslim religious sentiments. The following day, the top trio was placed on a total of 16 days` remand in five cases. The serial remands are underway.
BDST 1820 HRS, JULY 14, 2010.
