The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Thursday sent a copy of the arrest warrant to Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman to ensure law-enforcement agencies receive cooperation in detaining serving and retired army officers formally charged with enforced disappearances, secret detention, torture and killings.
On Wednesday, the tribunal formally charged 25 top and mid-ranking serving and retired army officers in three cases, issuing arrest warrants against them. Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, retired general and former defence and security adviser to Hasina Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal are also named in the cases.
Except for Maj Gen Ziaul Ahsan, no officer is currently behind bars. Zia led RAB’s intelligence wing as its additional director general (operations). He served as the director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre before his arrest in Dhaka on 16 August 2024, 10 days after the fall of Sheikh Hasina.
Prosecutor (Admin) of the ICT, Gazi MH Tamim, confirmed to TIMES that a copy of the arrest warrant has been sent to the army chief.
“Generally, arrest warrants are sent to the Inspector General of Police. However, since several serving and retired military officers are involved in these cases, the tribunal forwarded a copy to the army chief for information, so that the police can get cooperation from them [army] in arresting the officers,” he said.
He added that those against whom arrest warrants have been issued by the tribunal must be arrested by the police and presented before the tribunal. “This is the applicability of the law. If someone fails to arrest, it will be considered contempt of court.”
Sources at the tribunal said five to six serving officers have been under house arrest for several months but could not be formally arrested for undisclosed reasons. The tribunal’s order now clears the way for their detention.
When asked if the police have been unable to arrest military personnel or if there has been any pressure, prosecutor Tamim said they have no such information.
Another prosecutor, Tanvir Hassan Zoha, said the accused army officers had been under surveillance for months but could not be arrested due to lack of clearance. “With the tribunal issuing arrest warrants, the officers could now be arrested anytime,” added Zoha, also special investigator at ICT.
The arrest warrants were also sent to other law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to apprehend the accused.
As per military law, since warrants are issued against serving officers, they are called to their respective headquarters. The rest of the proceedings will follow as per regulations, sources from the army told TIMES.
Earlier, a three-member panel of ICT-1 took cognisance of all charges against 28 persons, including the 25 current and former army officers, in three cases involving enforced disappearances, secret detention, torture and killings during Hasina’s 15-year rule and the July uprising.
The panel fixed October 22 for the next hearing and directed the authorities concerned to produce the accused on that day.
Cases and the accused
A total of 28 people has been accused in two cases of enforced disappearances, secret detention, and torture in the 15 years of Hasina’s rule.
Of them, five are civilian while 23 are serving and former army officers. They civilians are Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former IGP Benazir Ahmed, former directors general of Rapid Action Battalion Harun-or-Rashid and Khurshid Hossain.
In both cases, Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former defence and security adviser to Hasina, has been accused.
Most of the army officers accused served Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and Rab.
Five former DGFI chiefs accused are Lt Gen (retd) Md Akbar Hossain, Lt Gen (retd) Md Saiful Alam, Lt Gen (retd) Ahmed Tabrez Shams Chowdhury, Maj Gen (retd) Md Saiful Abedin, and Maj Gen (retd) Hamidul Haque.
The other accused are former Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Bureau (CTIB) directors are Maj Gen Sheikh Md Sarwar Hossain, Maj Gen (retd) Mohammad Towhidul Ul Islam, Maj Gen Kabir Ahmed, Brig Gen Md Mahbubur Rahman Siddique, and Brig Gen Ahmed Tanvir Mazahar Siddique. Former DGFI official Lt Col (retd) Mokhsurul Haque was also named. CTIB is a unit of DGFI.
Also Col (retd) Anwar Latif Khan, Brig Gen Md Jahangir Alam, Brig Gen Tofail Mostafa Sarwar, Brig Gen Kamrul Hasan, Brig Gen Md Mahbub Alam, Col K M Azad, Col Abdullah Al Momen, Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Khairul Islam, Lt Col Md Moshiur Rahman Jewel, and Lt Col Saiful Islam Sumon, and Lt Col Sarwar Bin Kashem have been accused in the two cases of enforced disappearance and torture.
In the third case, the accused are Border Guard Bangladesh officers — Lt Col Redwanul Islam, Maj Rafat bin Alam Mun –DMP’s former ADCC of Khilgaon Division Md Rashedul Islam, and former officer-in-charge of Rampura Police Station Md Mashiur Rahman for killing 28 people and committing crimes against humanity in Rampura during the July uprising. Both the police officers are absconding.
