Mohammad Tajul Islam, known for his role in defending leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in war crimes cases during the rule of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League governments, has been appointed as the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal.
This appointment coincides with a surge in complaints submitted to the ICT against deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet and party colleagues, police, journalists, and other professionals after the fall of Hasina during a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
These complaints allege genocide and crimes against humanity related to the student-led uprising that led to the fall of the AL government.
In addition to the twelve complaints currently before the ICT, Hasina and her aides are implicated in over 150 cases, primarily over murders that occurred during the movement between July 16 and August 5.
Three days after the fall of Hasina, the interim government took oath and, on August 14, decided to hold trials at the ICT over the killings during the mass uprising.
The other newly appointed ICT prosecutors include Md Mizanul Islam, Gazi Monawar Hussain Tamim, BM Sultan Mahmud, and Abdullah Al Noman. Tamim represents the plaintiffs in the ICT cases against Hasina and her aides.
Mizanul Islam, who had also defended top Jamaat leaders, has been designated as an additional attorney general.
The remaining prosecutors have been designated as deputy attorneys general or assistant attorneys general.