Former military officer Mozzaffar Hossain, arrested on charges of involvement in the assassination of former President Ziaur Rahman, has been ordered to be produced before the International Crimes Tribunal.
The Bangladesh Army has been instructed to present him by 10 AM on Thursday.
Major (Retd.) Mozzaffar Hossain (77) had been a fugitive for 45 years. On Wednesday night, the police’s detective branch announced his arrest from a house in Banani, the capital. The next day, Thursday, he was handed over to the military police at Dhaka Cantonment.
The three-member International Crimes Tribunal-2, led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, ordered today, Tuesday, that Mozzaffar Hossain be presented before the International Crimes Tribunal.
The other two members of the tribunal are Judge Md Manjurul Bashed and Judge Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.
The tribunal issued this order following an application by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, Md Aminul Islam.
The Chief Prosecutor stated in the tribunal that the accused, Mozzaffar Hossain, is currently in military custody.
The tribunal stated in the order that for an effective and proper investigation, it is necessary to produce Mozzaffar Hossain before the tribunal in this case of crimes against humanity.
On the early morning of 30 May 1981, a group of misguided military officers brutally assassinated then-President Ziaur Rahman at the Chittagong Circuit House.
Ziaur Rahman, the founder of the BNP, had gone to Chattogram (Then spelt Chittagong) the previous day to resolve a local party dispute.
According to various historical accounts, narratives, or books published about the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, Mozzaffar was one of the armed military officers who went to the Chittagong Circuit House on the morning of 30 May 1981.
He was close to Zia at the moment of the assassination. After the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, Mozzaffar fled. A reward was announced for his capture at the time.
Following Zia’s assassination, 18 military officers were tried in a military court on charges of ‘rebellion''.
Among them, 13 were sentenced to death, and others received various terms of imprisonment. However, Major SM Khaled and Major Mozzaffar successfully managed to escape.