Dhaka: With one more case coming to an end at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1, the special court formed to hold the trials of war criminals and people accused of crimes against humanity will have to hear as many as 622 cases that are pending before its probe body.  

‘We have received a total of 658 allegations and concluded probing 36 of them. At this moment, we are investigating 26 more cases from the hefty list of accusations,’ Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, chief coordinator of the investigation agency told BSS.  

Today the ICT-1 kept the date of the verdict in the trial of Ataur Rahman Noni and Obaidul Haque Taher on CAV, meaning the tribunal will pronounce its judgment over the case any day.

Earlier on 7 January, the tribunal sent Emdadul Haque, 78, from Brahmanbaria to jail as he was arrested the day earlier following a warrant issued by the ICT-1.  

Since their inception in 25 March 2010, and 22 March 2012, the two tribunals, have disposed of 21 cases.

‘Twenty-one cases have been disposed of by the two tribunals till now. First tribunal disposed of 10 cases, whereas the second one disposed of 11 cases of crimes against humanity. Of these, four convicted war criminals including Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed have been executed,’ said senior prosecutor Barrister Tureen Afroz.

The government, however, on 15 September 2015, made the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 non-functional and reconstituted the first one.

Though formed later, the second tribunal became first-disposing a case sentencing former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad to death on 21 January 2013. Bachchu is still at large and believed to be in Pakistan.

It sentenced Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah to imprisonment for life in 5 February 2013. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, however, converted his sentence to death. He was executed on 12 December 2013.  

The first tribunal came up with its maiden judgement on 28 February 2013, sentencing Jamaat second chief Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death. But the Apex Court on 17 September 2014 commuted his death sentence and sent him to life imprisonment.  

The latest verdict came from the first tribunal which sentenced Bagerhat war criminal commander Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master to death and his accomplice Khan Akram Hossain to imprisonment till death.  

Meanwhile, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on 6 January upheld the death sentence of Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, originally handed down by the ICT-1.

The Apex Court is yet to hear the appeal cases of Mir Quasem Ali, Syed Md Qaiser, Maulana Abdus Subhan and ATM Azharul Islam, among others.