Dhaka: International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) 1 on Tuesday awarded condemned fugitive Syed M Hachen alias Hasan Ali of Kishoreganj, who is being tried in absentia, death penalty for committing war crimes during the War of Independence in 1971.

ICT said the execution can be carried out by hanging or by firing squad and it is the government, who will decide the manner of the execution.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice M Enayetur Rahim pronounced the verdict.

Other two members of the panel are Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Anwarul Haque.

The tribunal sentenced him to death as it found him guilty of five charges out of the total six.

Hasan got death for charge number three and four, imprisonment till death for charge two, five and six.

The tribunal started its proceedings at 11:10am and expressed its disappointment over the fact that it is again concluding trial process of a case in absence of the accused. It is the fifth such cases, where the tribunals pronounced their judgments in absentia.

‘It is very disappointing that the tribunal is going to conclude the trial process in absence of the accused. Also in the past, we had expressed our concern, anxiety over the failure of arresting the accused. The tribunal has no scope to do research on finding weaknesses or problems in this regard,’ said Justice Rahim.

After that the tribunal started reading out the summary of the 125-page judgement. Justice Anwarul Haque read out the introduction and charge portion, Justice Jahangir Hossain read out the portion on role played by the accused in 1971 and definition of inhuman act. At the end, Justice Rahim read out the sentencing portion.

Earlier on 20 April, closing the law-point arguments from both sides in the trial of the 1971 war crimes accused Syed M Hachen alias Hasan Ali, the International Crimes Tribunal 2 kept the verdict pending for any day.

It will be the 18^th judgment of the tribunal as it earlier delivered 17 verdicts.

On 11 November last year, the tribunal indicted Syed M Hachen alias Hasan Ali for his involvement in crimes against humanity during the War of Independence.

After fulfilling the requirement of law for the trial of a fugitive accused, the tribunal on 15 September took cognisance of the charges brought against war crimes accused Hasan who remained absconding since filing of the case.

According to the prosecution, the investigator has found Hasan’s involvement in some war crimes such as murder, loot, arson, torture, deportation and genocide at Tarail in Kishoreganj and the proof of his collaboration with the Pakistan occupation forces as a member of its auxiliary outfit Razakar during the War of Independence in 1971.

On 3 April 2014, the ICT 1 issued a warrant of arrest against war crimes suspect Syed M Hachen for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity in Kishoreganj during the War of Independence.