Detained Army officers ‘innocent’, acted on ‘Hasina’s orders’: Lawyer

Lawyers representing the Army officers who were sent to jail in three cases of crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearances and killings, allegedly committed during the Awami League’s rule have claimed that their clients are innocent.

On Wednesday, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, ordered the 15 officers to be sent to jail after they were produced before the tribunal.

After the hearing, defence counsel M Sarwar Hossain told reporters that the officers had surrendered out of respect for the law.

“They want to face trial. They did not commit these crimes. There is an approver—a prosecution witness who has said that everything happened on the orders of [former home minister] Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and [ousted prime minister] Sheikh Hasina. The officers had no control over those incidents.”

“Since their names appeared here and charges have been filed, they will face the trial and show the public what, if anything, they are guilty of. We have learned that they will be taken to sub-jail custody.”

ICT Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam told reporters that 15 Army officers were produced before the tribunal in connection with two of the cases. Of them, 10 were accused in a case involving torture at the RAB’s Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell. The tribunal ordered that they be shown arrested and sent to jail.

The chief prosecutor said the second case involved allegations that several detainees were held and tortured at the Joint Interrogation Cell between 2016 and 2024. Those accused in that case were also ordered to be sent to prison. The next hearing for this case has been scheduled for Nov 20.

Tajul added that the Army had assisted in arresting and producing the accused before the tribunal.

Ten of the officers are accused in the TFI cell torture case.

Among them are former additional director general of RAB Brig Gen Md Jahangir Alam, Brig Gen Md Kamrul Hasan, Brig Gen Md Mahbub Alam, Brig (Col) KM Azad, Col Abdullah Al Momen, and Col Anwar Latif Khan, who is currently on post-retirement leave. Also in custody are RAB’s former director of intelligence Lt Col Md Moshiur Rahman, Lt Col Saiful Islam Sumon, and Lt Col Md Sarwar Bin Quasem.

Others include Maj Gen Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Brig Gen Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddique, Brig Gen Ahmed Tanvir Mazahar Siddiqui, Lt Col Mohammad Redwanul Islam, and Maj Rafat Bin Alam Moon.

The tribunal also directed that public notices be published in newspapers, instructing the remaining accused to appear before the court.

Among them are former prime minister Hasina, former home minister Kamal, and former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed, while the remaining 10 are former Army officers.

Hasina’s former defence and security advisor, retired major general Tariq Ahmed Siddiqui, is also among them.

The detained officers were brought to the tribunal in a prison van under tight security.

Police officers escorted them from the prison van to the tribunal’s holding cell. At the time, the Army officers were seen wearing civilian clothes.

The International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants on Oct 8, after accepting the formal charges filed by the prosecution against 28 accused in the three cases of crimes against humanity.

Then, on Oct 11, the authorities announced at a press briefing that out of the 28 accused in the three cases, 15 people who were on duty and had gone to LPR had been taken into Army custody.

Later, a building in Dhaka Cantonment was declared a “temporary jail” to detain them.