The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Tuesday began the trial of Awami League joint general secretary and former lawmaker Mahbubul Alam Hanif and three other Kushtia-based leaders of the party for their alleged command responsibility in committing crimes against humanity in Kushtia during the July 2024 uprising.
The two-judge tribunal, led by retired district judge Md Manjurul Basid, began their trial in their absence as all of them are still in hiding.
Besides Hanif, the other accused are Kushtia district Awami League president Md Sadar Uddin Khan, general secretary Md Ali Asgar Ali, and Kushtia town Awami League general secretary Ataur Rahman Ata.聽
They were indicted on November 2 on three counts of crimes against humanity for ordering party activists to use 鈥榤aximum force鈥� against protesters, making inflammatory remarks to encourage party activists in committing violence and killing six people in Kushtia.
Their trial began with the prosecution鈥檚 opening statement.
In his opening statement, prosecutor Mizanul Islam described the background of the students鈥櫬爉ovement against discrimination between July 1, 2024 and August 5, 2024 and outlined the charges against the four accused.
The tribunal set December 8 for examining the prosecution witnesses.
Prosecutor Mizanul said that the evidence includes audio-video footage and newspaper reports. Tribunal-appointed state defence lawyer Amir Hossain argued that his clients should not be tried only because of their political affiliation.
According to the first charge, the four leaders met at the Kushtia Awami League office on July 27, 2024, and allegedly ordered activists to use 鈥榤aximum force鈥� against protesters, branding them criminals.
The second charge says that Hanif, along with Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, made inflammatory remarks at a July 15 press conference in Dhanmondi. They allegedly claimed that the Awami League and Chhatra League could 鈥榗ontain鈥� the student movement, labelling protesters as Jamaat members, criminals and communal forces. The prosecution alleged that these remarks encouraged violence.
The third charge alleges that, on August 5, 2024, Hanif and the three Kushtia leaders coordinated the attacks on unarmed protesters. Party activists, with support from police, reportedly opened fire between 1:30pm and 4:00pm across Kushtia, killing six people.
The victims are labourer Ashraful Islam, trader Babul Farazi, job holder Yunus, students Abdullah Al Mustakin and Md Usama, and Suruz Ali Babu. They had joined or supported the student-led 鈥楳arch to Dhaka鈥�.
The prosecution has submitted a list of 38 prosecution witnesses, including eight family members of the July victims, eight injured survivors, six protesters, one police member, and one journalist, two seizure-list witnesses, and two investigation officers to prove the case.
This is the 10th聽case submitted to the two International Crimes Tribunals, which were reconstituted in September 2024 to try the offenders involved in committing atrocities during the July鈥揂ugust mass uprising.
Earlier, ICT-1 had disposed of a case against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun over their command responsibility for the July atrocities.
Hasina and Asaduzzaman were sentenced to death, while Mamun, who became a state evidence, was jailed for five years.
