Referring to its earlier stance, the reconstituted International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Wednesday set March 10 for hearing the summing-up arguments afresh in the case of detained Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami being tried on charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. The prosecution will initiate summing-up argument afresh followed by the defence counsel, said the tribunal. Earlier, similar rehearing on summing-up arguments in the case of condemned Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee had taken place after the reconstitution of the ICT-1 with Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, following the resignation of its chairman Justice M Nizamul Huq amid the leakage of the skype conversations and email communications with Dr Ahmed Ziauddin, a Brussels-based Bangladeshi expert on international war crimes, over running the trial. At the outset, the three-member tribunal with its newly-appointed chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim resumed today, 56 days after Justice ATM Fazle Kabir went on retirement, both the prosecution and the defence counsel congratulated the new chairman and promised their cooperation with him in dispensation of justice. Designated prosecutor Zead Al Malum and Mohammad Ali appeared for the prosecution while Tajul Islam stood for the defence counsel. In reply, ICT chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim, flanked by his two other colleagues — Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Anwarul Haque – recalled his oath of office under the constitution and said he would ensure fair trial in the exercise of his judicial functions. The tribunal had kept pending its verdict in the Nizami case to be delivered any day, after closing the summing-up arguments from both sides since November last year. Asked as to how many days the prosecution would take for the summing-up arguments with law points afresh in the Nizami case, designated prosecutor Mohammad Ali told UNB that it might take one or two working days. A former minister during the past BNP-Jamaat rule, Nizami, already condemned in the Chittagong 10-truck arms haul case, is being tried on charges of involvement in murders and torture of unarmed people along with hatching conspiracies, planning, incitement and complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War in collaboration with the Pakistan occupation army. Nizami faces 16 counts of charges based on 16 separate incidents of crimes against humanity, in which at least 600 unarmed people were killed and 31 women raped during the Liberation War. The prosecution did not press one charge (charge No. 5–Iswardi mass killing) as they failed to produce its witnesses. On May 28, 2012, the tribunal indicted the Jamaat ameer for committing crimes against humanity in 1971. Nizami was arrested in front of the National Press Club on June 29, 2010, after a magistrate court in Dhaka issued warrant of arrest in connection with a criminal case over hurting religious sentiment of Muslims. Later, responding to a prosecution plea, the tribunal on July 22 shown him arrested in connection with the war crimes case. – UNB
