Trials and investigations of the cases related to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the liberation war in 1971 remain stalled in the International Crimes Tribunal after the political changeover on August 5, 2024 when the Awami League government was overthrown in a mass uprising.
War crimes trial campaigner ZI Khan Panna urged the authorities to continue 1971 war crimes trial as well as trials of the accused in cases related to the uprising in July and August.
He suggested that only prosecutors appointed by the previous Awami League government should handle war crimes cases, rather than the current prosecution team led by Mohammad Tajul Islam, who previously defended Jamaat-e-Islami leaders accused of 1971 war crimes.
A tribunal official said that before the mass uprising, 30 war crimes cases against 113 suspects were under investigation.
As of March 27, 2025, a total of 60 individuals remain in jail for committing war crimes during the country鈥檚 liberation war. 46 of the detained individuals were sentenced to death, 13 were sentenced to varying jail terms and one is now under trial.
In December 2024, the number was 64, of whom 45 received the death penalty, 13 got different jail terms and six were under trial.
After the August 5, 2024 political changeover, five war crimes suspects were granted bail.
The appellate process has also stalled, with at least 30 appeals by war crimes convicts pending in the Appellate Division since 2013.
The review petition of war crimes convict and former Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam against his death sentence has awaited a hearing since July 2020.
On March 2, the Appellate Division scheduled a hearing for May 8 on Azhar鈥檚 review petition against his death sentence, following Jamaat鈥檚 protests demanding his acquittal.
The cases related to the July-August uprising, however, have moved forward.
The tribunal鈥檚 investigation agency is probing 34 cases involving 167 accused individuals.
Deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also the AL president, who fled to India during the uprising, along with party general secretary Obaidul Quader, other party leaders and activists, and former and present officials of the law enforcement agencies, face arrest warrants in these cases.
So far, 45 people, mostly police officers, have been arrested, and 33 of them were shown arrested in cases related to the mass uprising.
Investigators have completed probes in three cases, and the prosecution is preparing formal charges.
The tribunal has received 250 complaints related to the uprising.
Despite ongoing proceedings for uprising-related cases, war crimes trials remain stagnant.
The tribunal continues to summon accused individuals in 1971 war crimes cases, but hearings are repeatedly deferred.
The tribunal has recently expressed dissatisfaction when an accused remained absent during a case hearing.
Prosecutor Tamim Gazi Monwar Hossain, who previously defended 1971 war crimes suspects, stated that the delay in war crimes trials was happening as new prosecutors were preparing their cases.
He alleged that former prosecutors, aligned with the Awami League, fled after August 5, 2024 without handing over the case files.
Prosecutor Abdus Sattar Palowan, who had earlier defended a number of war crimes accused, called for the acquittal of all 1971 war crimes detainees, claiming that they were politically persecuted under the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime in the past 15 years.
On March 25, 2010, the then AL-led government constituted an International Crimes Tribunal and, with the number of war crimes cases swelling, the ICT-2 was created on March 22, 2012.
However, the ICT-2 was made non-functional on September 15, 2015.
The two tribunals had disposed of 55 cases, mostly against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
The lone tribunal, the ICT-1, became inactive after the retirement of its chairman Justice Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar in June 2024.
To revive the tribunal after the July-August mass uprising, the government reconstituted it on October 14, 2024, appointing Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder as its chairman.
Lawyer Mohammad Tajul Islam, who had defended Jamaat leaders in the tribunal, was appointed chief prosecutor on September 5, 2024.
The home ministry restructured the tribunal鈥檚 investigation agency on September 18, 2024, with a retired additional deputy inspector general of police, Md Mazharul Haque, as the chief coordinator.
Law Adviser Asif Nazrul has reiterated the government鈥檚 commitment to prosecuting those responsible for the July-August uprising, during which hundreds of students and civilians were killed, and thousands injured in indiscriminate attacks allegedly by the members of the law enforcement agencies and the leaders and activists of the Awami League and its associate organisations.
