The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Wednesday rejected Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s petition for bail in a case of wartime ‘crime against humanity’ and the prosecution moved for taking him on remand.
However, the tribunal adjourned until Thursday the hearing on the bail petitions of four other top Jamaat leaders-- Ameer Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary-General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, and senior assistant secretaries-general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Nizamul Haque Nasim, passed the orders after holding the hearing on the progress report of the investigation into the allegations against the Jamaat leaders in their presence.
The special court asked the prosecutors to submit report of the investigation into the allegations against Sayedee within the shortest possible time.
“If not be possible, then the progress report of the investigation would have to be submitted on May 31,” the tribunal said in its directive.
The tribunal also asked the jail authorities to provide Sayedee with treatment at BIRDEM Hospital instead of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
During the hearing, Tanvir Ahmed Al Amin, a lawyer for Sayedee, pleaded for bail for physical condition of the petitioner and on humanitarian grounds.
“He is a man of 71. He is physically very sick. Besides, there are no charges framed yet against him 10 months into his detention,” Tanvir Ahmed told the court.
Rebutting the pleas of the defense council, Syed Rezaur Rahman, one of the prosecutors of the tribunal, said, “He is an influential man of his locality. The investigation against him is now at the last stage. The investigation will be hampered seriously if he is enlarged on bail.”
He also placed the progressive report of the investigation as per tribunal order.
Amid cross-currents of moves, the prosecution submitted a petition seeking to take Delwar Hossain Sayedee on three days’ remand.
“But the date for the hearing of the petition is yet to be set,” said Syed Rezaur Rahman to journalists.
Earlier in the day, the five top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were produced before the ICT on charges of their involvement in wartime ‘crime against humanity’ during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
News Source:
BanglaNews24