During cross-examination of a witness, the defence of Sayeedi said footage presented as evidence had no relevance to the case against the Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer and that it was submitted only to stir emotions.Mizanul Islam, a defence counsel of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi
...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami...
at the International Crimes Tribunal-1, said the footage from the US broadcaster NBC's 1972 news report was heavily edited and distorted.
In response, witness Mohammad Helal Uddin, who is the investigation officer of the case and the 28th and last prosecution witness, said it was not true. Helal had provided the court with the footage.
Helal, during his testimony, had also presented footage of US broadcaster CBS's news report as evidence against the Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
leader who is facing 20 specific charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Liberation War.
The three-member tribunal of Justice Md Nizamul Huq, Justice Md Anwarul Haque and AKM Zaheer Ahmed yesterday recorded the cross-examination of the witness for the sixth day yesterday.
The NBC and CBS footage from 1972 gave an account of the atrocities committed in Bangladesh during the Liberation War.
Helal yesterday said the CBS news report did not mention anything about Sayeedi or about Pirojpur district where the Jamaat leader had allegedly committed the crimes. He went on to add that atrocities were committed all over the country and some of those atrocities were described in the CBS report.
"Sayeedi committed similar crimes. I investigated those crimes and submitted a report accordingly," he had said but the tribunal omitted his answer from the proceedings as it was irrelevant.
In reply to other questions, the investigation officer admitted that he did not know where CBS was based in and that he did not try to contact the journalists who produced the report.
Helal said the CBS report was collected in the same way the NBC report was collected, meaning the foreign ministry provided the investigation agency with the reports.
He, however, said he did not know how the two reports of the two channels came to be in the same video file that the investigator submitted as exhibit before the tribunal.
The investigation officer also faced questions on other exhibits he had presented before the court during his testimony.
The questions were related to an ATN Bangla documentary on the atrocities committed in the country in 1971 and ETV footage on Sayeedi's involvements in the atrocities.
The cross-examination would resume on May 13.
Sayeedi was produced before the court yesterday. The nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami is among three Jamaat and a BNP leader facing such charges at the tribunal-1.