Nahid Islam, convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and a key figure in the July Uprising movement, concluded his testimony on Thursday before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 in a case concerning alleged crimes against humanity by deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, ex-home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and ex-IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumdar, had begun hearing Nahid’s deposition on Wednesday. Nahid, who also previously served as Information and Broadcasting Minister, is one of the prosecution’s most high-profile witnesses in the case. He is expected to face cross-examination later in the day.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, along with prosecutors Mizanul Islam and Gazi MH Tamim, represented the state, while Advocate Amir Hossain appeared for Sheikh Hasina and Kamal. Advocate Zayed Bin Amzad represented the detained former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun.
The tribunal had formally framed charges against all three accused on 10th July and subsequently ordered the trial to begin. During the proceedings, former IGP Mamun applied to become a state witness by pleading guilty. The tribunal accepted his application, and he was later presented as the 36th witness in the case.
Sheikh Hasina is also facing two other cases at the ICT one alleging enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during her 15-and-a-half-year tenure, and another over alleged mass killings during a Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Square in Dhaka’s Motijheel area.
