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Fifteen in-service military officers were Wednesday produced in the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in Dhaka and sent to jail in cases of crimes against humanity. Soon after the court order, they were taken to the cantonment sub-jail.
They, along with the top brass of the unseated past government, face three cases filed in the current interim period on charges of enforced disappearances and torture committed during last one and a half decades, as well as killings during the July-August 2024 mass uprising.
The three-member tribunal, headed by its chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, passed the orders after police produced them in the court.
Among the officers are Major-Gen Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, former Director of the Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Bureau (CTIB), DGFI, Brigadier-Gen Md Jahangir Alam, former Additional Director- General (ADG), Ops (Operations), RAB, Brig-General Tofayel Mostofa Sarwar, former RAB ADG (Ops), Brig-Gen Md Kamrul Hasan, former RAB ADG (Ops), Brig-Gen Md Mahbub Alam, former RAB ADG (Ops), Brig-Gen Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddiqui, former Director, CTIB, DGFI, Brig-Gen Ahmed Tanvir Mazhar Siddiqui, former Director, CTIB, DGFI.
The list of accused in the dock also includes Colonel Anwar Latif Khan, former RAB ADG (Ops), Col KM Azad, former RAB ADG (Ops), Col Abdullah Al Momen, former RAB ADG (Ops), and Col Md Sarwar Bin Kashem, former Director, Intelligence Wing, RAB, Lt-Col Md Moshiur Rahman Jewel, former Director, Intelligence Wing, RAB, Lt-Col Saiful Islam Sumon, former Director, Intelligence Wing, RAB, and Lt-Col Mohammad Redwanul Islam, and Major Rafat Bin Alam Moon.
On October 8 this year, the ICT-1 issued arrest warrant against deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her security and defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique and 30 others who include these military officers on the three counts of charges.
Later on October 11, Bangladesh Army in a press conference said 15 serving army officials against whom the tribunal issued warrant of arrest had been taken into custody.
After the court order, Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said law enforcers arrested the 15 officials before producing them in the tribunal on Wednesday.
"The tribunal ordered sending all the 15 officials to jail, and now the government, more specifically the jail authorities, would decide which facility the officers would be placed in," he told reporters.
Barrister M Sarwar Hossain, one of the defence counsels, stated that the officers were "not arrested but voluntarily surrendered before the tribunal to face the charges brought against them". They were later taken to a sub-jail located within the cantonment.
Meanwhile, the tribunal ordered its Registrar Office to publish within one week a notice in two newspapers asking the remaining accused of the cases to appear before it.
The tribunal also set November 5 and November 20 as the next hearing dates for the murder case and the two enforced- disappearance cases respectively.
Earlier in the day, the officers, who were in the army custody, were brought to the tribunal around at 7:00 am and produced before the ICT-1 amid tight security.
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police were deployed in and around the court premises. The army-men were transported in a green, air-conditioned special prison van.
According to the prosecution, one of the formal charges accuse 17 on five counts related to enforced disappearances and tortures carried out at the Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) Cell.
In this case, a total of 10 accused were sent to jail, and the remaining 7-- Hasina, Tarique Siddique, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former Home Minister, Benazir Ahmed, former Inspector-General of Police, M Khurshid Hossain, former RAB DG, Barrister Md Harun-Or-Rashid, former RAB DG, and Lt-Col (retd) Muhammad Khairul Islam, former Director, Intelligence Wing, RAB, are absconding.
In another formal charge, 13 were accused on five counts related to enforced disappearances and torture at the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC). In this case, a total of 3 officers were sent to jail, and the remaining 10 are on the run.
The runways include Sheikh Hasina, Tarique Siddique, Lt-Gen (retd) Md Akbar Hossain, former DGFI DG, Maj-Gen (retd) Md Saiful Abedin, former DGFI DG, Lt-Gen (retd) Md Saiful Alam, former DGFI DG, Lt-Gen (retd) Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury, former DGFI DG, Maj-Gen (retd) Hamidul Haque, former DGFI DG, Maj-Gen (retd) Md Towhid-ul-Islam, former Director of CTIB, DGFI, Maj-Gen Kabir Ahmed, former Director, CTIB, DGFI, and Lt-Col (retd) Mokhsurul Haque.
Another formal charge was also submitted against four in connection with killings in Rampura area during the July-August 2024 mass uprising that unseated the Hasina government.
In the case, two accused were sent to jail and another two -- Md Rashedul Islam, former ADC of Police, and Md Mashiur Rahman, former OC of Police -- are absconding.
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