Today the Tribunal heard matters in the following cases:

1. Chief Prosecutor vs. Ashrafuzzaman Khan & Chowdhury Mueen Uddin
2. Chief Prosecutor v. AKM Yusuf

Tribunal 2 recorded the testimony of two Prosecution witnesses, one in the case against Ahrafuzzaman Khan and Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and the other in the case against AKM Yusuf.

Ashafuzzaman and Mueen are being tried jointly and in absentia, as one resides in New York and the other in London. Sazzad, who gave testimony in this case as PW-21 told the tribunal that Ashrafuzzaman Khan had been a tenant in their Nakhalpara house and stayed there occasionally during the War of Liberation in 1971.

The witness, who is currently a Canadian citizen, was a student of Class 6 in 1971. He said that eight to ten days after Bangladesh’s victory, the police forces had recovered the diary and other documents from Ashraf’s room in his presence. This diary is infamously known as “Jollad er Diary” (The Butcher’s Diary). The state-appointed defense counsel completed cross-examination, drawing the court’s attention to the various inconsistencies in his testimony, particularly with respect to the approximate dates of newspapers which he claimed to have seen eight or nine months after the end of the war, despite these issues being published at the beginning of 1972.

In AKM Yusuf’s case, a freedom fighter named Liaquat Ali Khan from Morolganj upazilla gave testimony as a Prosecution witness, implicating the Accused in killings that took place during the Liberation War in 1971. He stated that, at a public rally in April 1971, Yusuf had ordered his followers to annihilate members of Hindu community and pro-liberation forces, whom he referred to as “Indian agents.” The witness stated that Yusuf and his cohorts had gone to a place called Sannashi Bazar on 28 April 1971. Yusuf addressed the Peace Committee meeting on the SP Rashedia School playground. Following this meeting, Yusuf organized training for selected members who were trained to become Rajakar forces. The witness Liaquat then said that one of his fellow fighters named Abu Bakr had been captured by the Rajakar forces and was killed under direct order from the accused Yusuf. According to the witness, few other detainees named Santi Ranjan Das, Satya Ranjan Das and Shankar Ranjan Das, who were brothers, along with Amar Das and Pijus Kanti Garai were also shot in similar fashion by Rajakars named Abdus Salam, Mohammad Ali and Amir Ali, under the direct instruction of AKM Yusuf.  Amongst the victims, Amar and Pijus managed to survive. Another physician named Abdul Majid was also killed on 26 July 1971, upon Yusuf’s order, according to the witness.

After recording the testimony, the case was adjourned until 26 September 2013.