International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor M Tajul Islam has formally requested the home ministry and police headquarters to issue Interpol red notices against Awami League leader Obaidul Quader and nine others on charges of crimes against humanity linked to the July Uprising.
The individuals named in the request include former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former Liberation War affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque, former information minister Hasan Mahmud, former jute minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak, former Dhaka South mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, former education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, former state minister for power Nasrul Hamid Bipu, former state minister for information Mohammad Ali Arafat, and Tarique Ahmed Siddique, the security advisor to deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
On Thursday, Tajul confirmed, “The tribunal has already issued arrest warrants for the fugitives in the case concerning crimes against humanity.”
He added, “We have prepared the court order along with necessary documents and forwarded a letter to the home ministry and police headquarters. The home minister will now take the required legal steps.”
The tribunal, originally set up by the Awami League government in 2010 to prosecute war crimes from the 1971 Liberation War, is now being used by the interim government to try cases related to what it describes as “genocide” during student-led protests against the Sheikh Hasina administration.
To facilitate this, the tribunal has been restructured with new judges and prosecutors.
A total of 56 allegations of “genocide and crimes against humanity,” committed between July 5 and August 5, have been submitted to the tribunal’s investigation agency and prosecution office.
As a result, the tribunal has issued arrest warrants for 141 individuals, including Hasina.
On December 22, the chief prosecutor had also requested an Interpol red notice against Hasina. With the latest request, he has now sought red notices for 10 individuals, including eight former Awami League ministers.
Regarding the status of the red notice for Hasina, Tajul said, “We do not yet have any information on its issuance.”
