Staff Reporter:
Thirteen officials of the Bangladesh Army were produced before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) yesterday in two cases filed over enforced disappearances and torture at the Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) Cell and the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) during the tenure of the past Awami League government.
The accused are: Md Jahangir Alam, Tofayel Mostafa Sarwar, Md Qamrul Hasan, Md Mahabub Alam, KM Azad, Abdullah Al Momen, Md Moshiur Rahman Jewel, Saiful Islam Suman, Md Sarwar Bin Qashem, Anwar Latif Khan, Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Md Mahbubur Rahman Sid-diqui and Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui.
The officers, who were in plainclothes, were brought to the tribunal in a specialised prison van around 10 am amid heightened security in and around the court premises. One by one, they were taken down from the olive-coloured van and escorted to the tribunal lockup on the ground floor of the main building.
A large contingent of police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Armed Police Battalion (APBN) personnel was deployed surrounding the tribunal area.
On October 22, ICT-1 sent the 13 accused, along with two other army officers-Mohammad Red-wanul Islam and Rafat Bin Alam, who are charged in a separate crimes against humanity case-to jail.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, also or-dered the publication of notices in one English and one Bengali newspaper directing fugitive ac-cused in the three cases to appear before the court.
Earlier, on October 8, the ICT-1 took in cognizance of charges against 30 accused, including oust-ed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in two cases related to enforced disappearances and torture.
In one case, the prosecution brought five charges against 13 people, including Sheikh Hasina and her former security and defense adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, over crimes committed at the JIC.
The other accused are: Md Akbar Hossain, Md Saiful Abedin, Md Saiful Alam, Md Tabrej Shams Chowdhury, Hamidul Haque, Mohammad Touhidul Islam, Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Kabir Ah-med, Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui, Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui and Mokhchurul Haque.
Another five charges were brought against 17 people, including Sheikh Hasina and Tarique Ahmed Siddique, over crimes committed at the TFI.
The remaining accused in that case are: former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed, M Khurshid Hossain, Barrister Md Harun Ur Rashid, Anwar Latif Khan, Md Jahangir Alam, Tofayel Mostafa Sarwar, KM Azad, Md Qamrul Hasan, Md Mahabub Alam, Abdullah Al Momen, Md Sarwar Bin Qashem, Md Khairul Islam, Md Moshiur Rahman Jewel and Saiful Islam Suman.
