Former Jamaat-e Islami ameer Ghulam Azam, and its assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman yesterday appealed to the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to exempt them from the crimes against humanity charges. “They filed two separate petitions with the tribunal, seeking relief from the charges since it has recently sent the formal charges against them back to the prosecution for rearranging them. Advocate M Tajul Islam, a lawyer for the accused Jamaat leaders, told the tribunal cannot return formal charges against any accused back to the prosecution for rearranging those properly. As per section 23 of the rules of procedure under the ICT act, the tribunal will dismiss the charges brought against any accused, if it does not take the charges into cognizance, he said. Tajul also said they have submitted separate petitions on behalf of Azam and Kamaruzzaman for dismissal of charges against them. They might file a similar petition on behalf of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed today, as the tribunal has also sent the formal charges against him back to the prosecution, he added. Tribunal Registrar M Shahinur Islam said that he has placed the two petitions before the tribunal after receiving those from Azam and Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers. The ICT on December 26 and 28 last year had sent the formal charges against Azam, Kamaruzzaman and Mojaheed back to the prosecution, since the charges were not arranged and classified properly. It also directed the prosecution to rearrange and reorganise the charges in a systematic form and resubmit them before it. The prosecution has to submit the rearranged charges against Azam by January 5, against Kamaruzzaman by January 12 and Mojaheed by January 16, as per the court order.
