Ashulia 6 bodies burning: Tribunal to deliver charge-framing order 21 Aug

Former Member of Parliament (MP) Muhammad Saiful Islam and 15 other accused have sought acquittal in the case filed over crimes against humanity for burning the bodies of six protesters in Ashulia near Dhaka during the July uprising.

The defence lawyers submitted this petition to International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Wednesday. Earlier on 7 August, the prosecution had filed a petition to frame charges against the accused in the case.

Following petitions from both the prosecution and the defence, the tribunal has set 21 August for delivering the order on the charge-framing issue.

The date was fixed by ICT-2, headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury. The two other members of the tribunal are Judge Md Manjurul Basid and Judge Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.

There are 16 accused in the case, eight of whom are in custody. They were produced before the tribunal today.

The eight in custody are former Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Savar Circle Md Shahidul Islam; former ASP of Dhaka district Abdullahil Kafi; former Detective Branch (DB) Inspector of Dhaka district police Md Arafat Hossain; former sub-inspectors of Ashulia Police Station Abdul Malek, Arafat Uddin, Kamrul Hasan, Sheikh Abzalul Haque; and former constable Mukul Chokdar.

The remaining eight accused, including former MP Muhammad Saiful Islam, are absconding.