Dec 12, 2016, at 09:16 pm
On December 5, 2016, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) handed down the death penalty to Edris Ali Sardar aka Gazi Edris (67), a leader of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), for crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971. Sulaiman Mollah aka Soleman Moulvi (84) was also charged along with Sardar, but the Tribunal did not hold him responsible for the crimes as he had died of old age complications on October 26, 2016, during the closing arguments of the case. Edris has been on the run. Four charges including death in two charges, imprisonment for life in one and seven-year jail term in another charge were proved beyond doubt against Edris. The first charge that earned Edris death was for killing 200 Hindu people by firing shots indiscriminately on May 22, 1971, in Shariatpur District. The second charge that earned him death was for killing 20 Hindu people on May 23, 1971, in Madaripur District. The third charge that earned him life in prison was for torturing and killing Lalit Mohan Kundu and Shuresh Goon by stabbing with a bayonet in mid June 1971, in Shariatpur District. Edris was also awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment on a fourth charge, for intimidating around 1,500 people into leaving Bangladesh between March 25 and December 10, 1971.