[Bangla Daily Star] The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday directed the prison authorities to produce the four detained top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders before it on August 2. The Jamaat leaders are Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid and two senior assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
This is the first ever step made by a tribunal in the history of Bangladesh in connection with war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.
The tribunal on July 26 issued arrest warrants against them following a petition filed by the prosecution for their alleged involvement in genocide and crimes against humanity and peace during the Liberation War.
Yesterday's directive came after the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner sent a report to the tribunal saying the Jamaat leaders have already been sent to jail in different other cases, so the law enforcers could not execute the arrest warrants of the tribunal, said Shahinur Islam, registrar of the tribunal.
The tribunal issued the ruling asking the authorities to show the leaders arrested in connection with the alleged offences under the International Crimes Tribunal Act 1973 and produce them at 10:00am on the day before it.
The administration of the tribunal has taken necessary measures to strengthen security on the premises of the tribunal on August 2.