DHAKA NEWS
Dhaka, May 2 The first war crimes tribunal deferred Jamaat guru Ghulam Azam's indictment order for a second time on Wednesday and fixed May 13 the new date.
Scheduled for wednesday, the three-judge tribunal, headed by Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq, has not yet been able to complete the order to its satisfaction and fixed May 13 when it would rule on whether to indict the former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami or not.
The tribunal however, rejected the 89-year-old Jamaat leader's petition to modify a previous order that allowed Azam to have home cooked food in jail.
Set up to deal with crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War, the International Crimes Tribunal – 1, said in its order that as far as the court understood the arguments of the defence, it was not ready to accept that Azam's family members would have to bear the risk of any complications arising from food.
The petition had sought that some of the tribunal's conditions be deleted from the order. It was the position of the defence that the home cooked food could well be contaminated when the jail authority examined it or after the family members handed over the food to the jail authorities.
As a result Ghulam Azam's son, Abdullah Aaman Azmi, who could have availed of the court's allowance through an undertaking accepting the court's conditions, did not proceed.
Justice Huq giving the order said it appeared that Azam was still being given jail food. However, the order noted, there was no such evidence before the court that Ghulam Azam's health has deteriorated, as a result.
The order reasoned that since it was the family providing home cooked food to Azam, it would have to shoulder the responsibility too.
Justice Huq had stipulated in his order of Mar 6 that Ghulam Azam's family could supply him home cooked food as they had petitioned but at their "own risk".
The order also stated that no questions could be raised against the jail or hospital authorities if Azam's health deteriorated on account of the food.
Abdur Razzaq, the senior counsel for Jamaat leaders argued that these conditions be deleted from the order.
The order went on to say that the court saw no reason to delete portions of the earlier order, neither were there any new grounds to deviate from its earlier position.
As such the petition is rejected, said the tribunal chairman.
This was promptly followed by another Jamaat counsel taking the podium to inform the court that the jail authorities had taken away the writing pad that the lawyers had provided him for taking notes after having read the prosecution documents.
Justice Huq appeared to be at a loss for words. "Well what can I say to that? We have known that people even write novels in prisons."
He then directed the prosecution to find out what had happed and directed them to order the prison authorities not to repeat the incident.
On Dec 12, 2011, the prosecution brought a 52-point charter of charges against Azam and appealed for his arrest. Later, following the tribunal order, charges were re-arranged and presented to the tribunal on Jan 5, 2012.
He was produced before the tribunal by its order on Jan 11 and sent to jail on the same day. Since that evening Ghulam Azam has been shifted to the prison cell of the Bangabandhu medical university for better treatment considering his delicate health.
Azam had allegedly lead the infamous 'peace committees' and collaborated with the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War. He also spoke in favour of Pakistan to the Middle Eastern countries during the war, according to the prosecution.
He stayed in London for seven years after 1971 and returned to Bangladesh in 1978 during Ziaur Rahman's rule. Having led Jamaat for long, Azam retired from active politics in 1999.
The second of part of Azam's formal charges were presented before the court on Feb 27 as video clippings. The prosecution re-read parts of the formal charge on Mar 6 when it was scheduled to present further arguments.
Scheduled for wednesday, the three-judge tribunal, headed by Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq, has not yet been able to complete the order to its satisfaction and fixed May 13 when it would rule on whether to indict the former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami or not.
The tribunal however, rejected the 89-year-old Jamaat leader's petition to modify a previous order that allowed Azam to have home cooked food in jail.
Set up to deal with crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War, the International Crimes Tribunal – 1, said in its order that as far as the court understood the arguments of the defence, it was not ready to accept that Azam's family members would have to bear the risk of any complications arising from food.
The petition had sought that some of the tribunal's conditions be deleted from the order. It was the position of the defence that the home cooked food could well be contaminated when the jail authority examined it or after the family members handed over the food to the jail authorities.
As a result Ghulam Azam's son, Abdullah Aaman Azmi, who could have availed of the court's allowance through an undertaking accepting the court's conditions, did not proceed.
Justice Huq giving the order said it appeared that Azam was still being given jail food. However, the order noted, there was no such evidence before the court that Ghulam Azam's health has deteriorated, as a result.
The order reasoned that since it was the family providing home cooked food to Azam, it would have to shoulder the responsibility too.
Justice Huq had stipulated in his order of Mar 6 that Ghulam Azam's family could supply him home cooked food as they had petitioned but at their "own risk".
The order also stated that no questions could be raised against the jail or hospital authorities if Azam's health deteriorated on account of the food.
Abdur Razzaq, the senior counsel for Jamaat leaders argued that these conditions be deleted from the order.
The order went on to say that the court saw no reason to delete portions of the earlier order, neither were there any new grounds to deviate from its earlier position.
As such the petition is rejected, said the tribunal chairman.
This was promptly followed by another Jamaat counsel taking the podium to inform the court that the jail authorities had taken away the writing pad that the lawyers had provided him for taking notes after having read the prosecution documents.
Justice Huq appeared to be at a loss for words. "Well what can I say to that? We have known that people even write novels in prisons."
He then directed the prosecution to find out what had happed and directed them to order the prison authorities not to repeat the incident.
On Dec 12, 2011, the prosecution brought a 52-point charter of charges against Azam and appealed for his arrest. Later, following the tribunal order, charges were re-arranged and presented to the tribunal on Jan 5, 2012.
He was produced before the tribunal by its order on Jan 11 and sent to jail on the same day. Since that evening Ghulam Azam has been shifted to the prison cell of the Bangabandhu medical university for better treatment considering his delicate health.
Azam had allegedly lead the infamous 'peace committees' and collaborated with the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War. He also spoke in favour of Pakistan to the Middle Eastern countries during the war, according to the prosecution.
He stayed in London for seven years after 1971 and returned to Bangladesh in 1978 during Ziaur Rahman's rule. Having led Jamaat for long, Azam retired from active politics in 1999.
The second of part of Azam's formal charges were presented before the court on Feb 27 as video clippings. The prosecution re-read parts of the formal charge on Mar 6 when it was scheduled to present further arguments.
