ICT senior prosecutor Zead-AI-Malum no more

Advocate Zead-AI-Malum, who served as senior prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), breathed his last at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Saturday night, reports news agencies UNB and BSS.

His life support was removed at 12:35am (Sunday), ICT senior consultant Mehedi Masum said.

On 25 May, the 67-year-old Supreme Court lawyer was admitted to Bangladesh Specialised Hospital in the capital after suffering a stroke.

Later, Zead-AI-Malum, also a freedom fighter, was put on life support as his condition worsened. He was shifted to CMH in June.

In March 2010, Zead-AI-Malum was appointed prosecutor of the ICT, a domestic tribunal with the power to adjudicate international crimes.

He was instrumental in the trial of several people for their crimes against humanity, including BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Ghulam Azam, Matiur Rahman Nizami, and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

Zead-al-Malum was born in 1954 in Tangail and completed his institutional education in 1978 from the University of Dhaka.

“Malum breathed his last at 11.55pm at Combined Military Hospital,” ICT senior prosecutor Md Sultan Mahmud Simon said.

He left behind his wife, a daughter and son, a host of relatives and admirers to mourn his death.

ICT chief prosecutor Ghulam Arief Tipoo in a message expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of Malum.

He prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved family.