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The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Tuesday allowed conditional bail to former director general (DG) of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Muhammad Wahidul Haque in a crimes against humanity case.
The three-judge panel of the ICT led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder passed the order after holding a hearing in this regard.
“He is 78 years old and has languished in jail for the last six and a half years after getting arrested in the case. He is suffering from different old-age complications. We had pleaded for bail, saying the former government filed the forged and fabricated case against him, being angered for not getting illegal assistance from him during his tenures in NSI and police. The tribunal after going through all the relevant documents and hearing our arguments allowed him the bail,” defence counsel Advocate Abdus Sattar Palwan told BSS.
The defence lawyer said the court granted Haque bail on conditions of not visiting or giving any threats to any witnesses, not talking to any media, not going outside, not leaving the country and keeping his passport in court custody.
The ICT-1 on October 16, 2019, indicted Muhammad Wahidul on the charges of committing crimes against humanity, genocide, and violating the Geneva Convention in 1971.
The investigation agency of the ICT on October 30, 2018, finalised its report on a probe into the alleged crimes against humanity committed in 1971 by Wahidul Haque.
According to the prosecution, Wahidul Haque, who was an adjutant of the 29 Cavalry Regiment based in Rangpur Cantonment at the time, went on a killing spree on March 28, 1971, as he and his subordinates brushed fire on freedom-loving people of the area and killed around 600 innocents.
They also set fire to houses and burnt the bodies of those killed in their gunfire, the prosecution said.
The ICT probe body launched its investigation against Haque on December 5, 2016, and concluded on October 30, 2018. They made 54 people witnesses in the trial.
Wahidul Haque was arrested on April 24, 2018, from his Baridhara house right after the ICT-1 issued an arrest warrant against him.