Sister of a martyred intellectual on Tuesday testified against Jamaat acting secretary general ATM Azharul Islam, charged with committing crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971, at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1.
Shova Kar, 62, sister of martyred teacher Chitya Ranjan Roy of Rangpur Carmichael College, submitted her deposition as the ninth prosecution witness (PW).
Shova, who is now living in Calcutta, India, described how Pakistani troops along with their local collaborators including Azhar abducted her brother from his home blindfolded on the night of 30 April 1971, who was subsequently killed along with some of his colleagues and their wives.
"As the troops were forcing my brother to board their vehicle, I saw some local men standing beside them in plain clothes. Of them, I recognized Azhar, as he used to study with us and was leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha in our college," said Shova.
Quoting Ratan Das, then chef of the rest house of the Rangpur Carmichael College, the witness added that Azhar was also present at the scene when the Pakistani troops were abducting Kalachand Babu and his wife Manjusree.
At the end of her deposition, the witness sought exemplary punishment to the killers of the teachers and their family members of Carmichael College.
Meanwhile, before her deposition, the defence concluded cross-examination of PW-8, who testified against Azhar yesterday.
The ICT-1 on 12 November indicted Azhar on six specific charges of crimes against humanity including genocide, abduction, torture and rape.
Earlier on 18 July, the prosecution submitted the formal charge, bringing six charges of crimes against humanity against Azhar. On 25 July, the tribunal took the charges into cognizance.
According to the prosecution, Azhar, now 61, was the Al -Badr Rangpur district unit commander during the War of Liberation. Hailed from Batason Lohanipara under Badarganj upazilla of Rangpur, Azharul was arrested from his Moghbazar residence in the capital on 23 August 2012 and produced before the tribunal three days later. He has been in jail since then.