The cross-examination of former IGP turned state-witness Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun by state-appointed lawyer Advocate Amir Hossain, representing Sheikh Hasina, has been rescheduled to Thursday.
The change came following a request of postponement from its originally set date on Wednesday, tribunal's prosecutor Gazi M H Tamim told reporters.
Mamun, a former accused, became the state witness in the cases of crimes against humanity committed during the July–August 2024 uprising.
He testified at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Tuesday, after which he was cross-examined by Advocate Amir Hossain, representing the defendant.
In his statement yesterday, he said, on 4 August, 2024, a meeting of the Committee for Intelligence Co-ordination was held at Ganabhaban at 11am led by then prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The meeting was joined by 27 members of the committee, including the then law minister Anisul Haque, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, the heads of the three services, chief of SB Monirul Islam and DGFI-NSI chiefs.
"I myself was also there," he said, adding, "There was a discussion on suppressing the movement and bringing it under control. At one point of the meeting, the intelligence agencies were presenting a report on the situation of the student-people's movement. However the meeting was cut short, as the situation worsened rapidly".
He also named Awami league politicians who persuaded Hasina to give the green signal for using lethal weapons.
"Kamal, Anisul, Fazle Noor Taposh, Salman F Rahman, Obaidul Quader, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mohammad Ali Arafat, Mirza Azam, Hasanul Haque Inu, Rashed Khan Menon and some other influential political leaders persuaded the prime minister to use lethal weapons to suppress the movement.
"In addition to Awami League political leaders and activists, pro-Awami League intellectuals, journalists, cultural activists and businessmen encouraged the government to suppress the student-people's movement," said Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun.
Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun petitioned to become a state's witness last July which was approved on 10 July by a bench headed by Judge Golam Mortuza Majumdar of the International Crimes Tribunal-1.
He confessed his guilt to the court saying, "I am guilty. I admit my crime and I want to present the true events of this case, the role of the other accomplices and the full details of the killings in July before the court."
After the former IGP's confession, the court accepted him as an 'approver' or state-witness and ordered the implementation of appropriate measures for his security.
Comments