Aug 21, 2018, at 03:54 pm
On August 13, 2018, International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) sentenced to death Mohamad Esahaq Shikder (83), Abdul Goni Hawlader (72), Mohamad Awal aka Awal Moulavi (69), Mohamad Abdus Sattar Pada (65) and Solaiman Mridha aka Soleman Mridha (86) for committing crimes against humanity in the Patuakhali District during the Liberation War in 1971. They were found guilty of two charges for which they were indicted on March 8, 2017. All the five men were handed death sentence for the murder of 17 villagers after torturing them in confinement and setting fire to at least 12 houses after looting them in Itbaria, a village in the Patuakhali District on May 4, 1971. They were also given death sentence for the abduction of 15 women from the same Itbaria village on the same day, taking them to the Circuit House Army camp where they were tortured and raped for 10 days until May 14, 971. All the convicts were involved with the Muslim League (ML) and are behind bars.