The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has pronounced verdict in the war crimes case filed against Satkhira district Jamaat chief and former MP Abdul Khaleq Mandal and Khan Roknuzzaman.
The three-member panel of the ICT, headed by Justice Shahinur Islam, delivered the verdict on Thursday.
The tribunal sentenced the duo to death for committing crimes against humanity in Satkhira during the War of Liberation in 1971.
Among the two convicts, Jamaat leader Abdul Khaleq Mandal is now in jail while Roknuzzaman is on the run.
Prosecutor Sabina Yesmin Khan and Prosecutor Rezia Sultana Chaman represented the state in the tribunal, while Advocate Abdus Sobhan Tarafdar and Advocate Mujahidul Islam Shaheen represented accused Abdul Khaleq Mandal and state defence lawyer Gazi MH Tamim defended absconding accused Khan Roknuzzaman.
In 1971, Abdul Khaleq Mandal was an organizer of the anti-Bangladesh paramilitary force Razakar in Satkhira, while Rokunuzzaman was a member of the group.
According to the case statement, the duo collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army to commit a series of crimes, including murder and rape, across Satkhira.
The accused were charged with six counts of war crimes, all of which were proved beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecution, the tribunal said in its verdict.
Khaleq was implicated in a case filed in July 2009 for killing five people in Satkhira during the war.
The case was started by Nazrul Islam Gazi whose father, Rustam Ali Gazi of Satkhira Sadar’s Shimulbaria village, was one of the victims of Khaleq’s wartime atrocities. The matter was later referred to the International Crimes Tribunal.
Abdul Khaleq Mandal, 73, was later arrested from Khalilnagar Mahila Madrassa in Satkhira sadar upazila on June 16 in 2015 on charges of conspiracy to incite violence.
The ICT’s probe panel later conducted an investigation into the case from August 2015 to February 2017.
The panel submitted its findings against Khaleq, Rokunuzzaman and two others on February 8 in 2017. Their trial subsequently opened in April 2018, with the court hearing the testimonies of 17 witnesses before reaching its verdict.
On November 11 in 2021, the tribunal, on completion of case summing up arguments from both the sides, announced that the verdict would be pronounced any day.
Among the total four accused of the case- Abdullah-hil Baki and Zahirul Islam Tekka Khan, died during the trial.
