A tribunal has taken on record formal charges against 41 people — including the absconding former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the former army chief General Aziz Ahmed and the former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed — in a crimes against humanity case over the killings surrounding a Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel in the capital on 5 May 2013. Arrest warrants have also been issued for Sheikh Hasina and the other absconders.
The three-member International Crimes Tribunal-2, headed by its chairman Nazrul Islam, passed the order on Monday, 27 July, taking on record the formal charges submitted by the prosecution.
Besides the absconding former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, those against whom arrest warrants have been issued include the former army chief General Aziz Ahmed and the former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed, among many others. The prosecution had applied for arrest warrants against them.
Nine of the accused in the case are currently under arrest. They are the former minister Dr Dipu Moni; the former state minister for home affairs, Shamsul Haque Tuku; retired Major General Ziaul Ahsan; the former inspector general of police A K M Shahidul Haque; the former deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Mollah Nazrul Islam; the president of the advisory council of the Ekattorer Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee, Shahriar Kabir; the former DIG Abdul Jalil Mondal; and the journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu.
The chief prosecutor said earlier that the prosecution had found evidence of 58 people being killed at Shapla Chattar. After a day-long Hefazat rally on 5 May 2013, law enforcement agencies launched a brutal attack that night on the gathering at Shapla Chattar. Hefazat-e-Islam filed a complaint at the International Crimes Tribunal seeking an investigation into the incident after 5 August.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report