{"id":4905,"date":"2025-11-25T02:12:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4905"},"modified":"2025-11-25T02:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:13:12","slug":"a-storm-in-the-ict-bd-the-day-the-chief-prosecutor-threatened-the-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4905","title":{"rendered":"A Storm In The ICT-BD: The day the chief prosecutor threatened the defense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Sunday, Courtroom No. 1 of the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-BD) in Dhaka became a battleground. What began as a routine hearing in the enforced-disappearance case against retired Major General Ziaul Ahsan rapidly descended into one of the most shocking confrontations ever witnessed in a Bangladeshi courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the centre of the storm stood Advocate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailystar.net\/news\/bangladesh\/news\/you-could-also-be-accused-chief-prosecutor-defence-clash-ict-1-4041721\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nazneen Nahar<\/a>\u2014defense counsel, elder sister of the accused, and a seasoned Supreme Court lawyer who had never before been spoken to in this manner in thirty years of practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Trigger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nazneen Nahar told the three-judge bench, chaired by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, that although the tribunal had ordered that a lawyer must be present during her client\u2019s interrogation at the Dhanmondi \u201csafe house,\u201d the order was being flouted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; She was never formally informed of interrogation dates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; When she turned up, she was kept in an adjacent room\u2014unable to see or hear her client.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; On one occasion, she was allowed in only during the lunch break and then locked out again.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Most disturbingly, Nabila Idris, a member of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED), was actively interrogating Ziaul Ahsan and, according to Nazneen, threatening him: \u201cIf you do not answer, your daughter will become an orphan.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; The entire interrogation was being secretly video-recorded\u2014something the ICT Act and Rules do not authorise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nazneen filed a simple application: \u201cPlease issue a clear direction that future interrogations must be conducted strictly in accordance with the law and that the defense lawyer is informed and allowed visual access.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u09ae\u09c7\u099c\u09b0 \u099c\u09c7\u09a8\u09be\u09b0\u09c7\u09b2 \u099c\u09bf\u09df\u09be\u09b0 \u0986\u0987\u09a8\u099c\u09c0\u09ac\u09c0\u0995\u09c7 \u09a4\u09be\u099c\u09c1\u09b2\u09c7\u09b0 \u09b9\u09c1\u09ae\u0995\u09bf | \u09ae\u09c7\u099c\u09b0 \u099c\u09c7\u09a8\u09be\u09b0\u09c7\u09b2 \u099c\u09bf\u09af\u09bc\u09be | Nazneen Nahar | Fazlul Bari |\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KBt2BDCrwuE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Chief Prosecutor Explodes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam, who is a former leader of AB Party\u2014Jamaat\u2019s camouflaged offshoot, lost all composure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4195\">Sheikh Hasina condemns trial of patriotic army officers in illegal ICT-BD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4118\">ICT-BD: Sheikh Hasina slams General Waker for insults to army officers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4187\">Trial of Army Officers in ICT-BD: Challenge to sovereignty in extra-legal actions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He interrupted Nazneen repeatedly, shouting: \u201cYou stay silent! Do not talk! You can also be made an accused. We are getting allegations against you from different quarters!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the chairman reminded Tajul that Nazneen was appearing as counsel, the prosecutor doubled down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis man (Ziaul Ahsan) has killed around 1,000 people and dumped their bodies in the Buriganga after cutting open their abdomens!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He dismissed every complaint as \u201cblatant lies,\u201d defended Nabila Idris\u2019s presence, and justified the secret video recording \u201cso that no one can later falsely claim maltreatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Nazneen insisted on her modest prayer for lawful procedure, Tajul Islam went further:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Reject the petition\u2014it does not cite specific sections.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; She is a family member of the accused and is \u201ccreating a lot of problems.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; The prosecution will move to remove her from the case altogether.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; \u201cYou always shout. Your behaviour is offensive!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nazneen replied calmly: \u201cYou are the one saying offensive things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4891\">OHCHR Bangladesh head Huma Khan\u2019s deep state mission nears end<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4856\">Dr. Masum Billah on Sheikh Hasina verdict: This was a blatant miscarriage of justice<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4848\">Bangladesh Judiciary Under Yunus: A tale of two justices\u2014vengeance vs impunity<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Justice Mortuza had to intervene several times, asking both sides to calm down. Eventually, the tribunal allowed the appointment of a foreign lawyer (subject to Bar Council formalities) but deferred the call-record petition until after the framing of charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Interview\u2014Nazneen Nahar Speaks for the First Time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two days later, on November 25, Nazneen Nahar gave her first full-length television interview. Speaking with remarkable restraint but unmistakable pain, she explained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. She is Ziaul Ahsan\u2019s immediate elder sister.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Despite the tribunal\u2019s August order that a lawyer must be present, she was deliberately sidelined.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Nabila Idris has no legal authority to interrogate an accused in ICT-BD custody; the CIED\u2019s mandate does not override the ICT Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. Secret video recording is not permitted under the Act or Rules; her client refused because he feared editing and manipulation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. She only asked for future interrogations to follow the law\u2014nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She revealed the human cost:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Her brother was taken from his home on 7 August under the pretext that the army chief wanted to see him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; For nine days, the family had no news; she even went to the cantonment, fearing he had been killed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Their family&#8217;s house in Nakshatra Barracks was ransacked; laptops, a safe, and even bathroom fittings disappeared.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; False stories were planted that Ziaul Ahsan had fled the country or that crores of taka were recovered from his home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Her husband (a former SEC official) has been served with DUAC notices; their ancestral property is now being measured as \u201cZiaul Ahsan\u2019s asset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet she repeatedly emphasised: \u201cI am not afraid. I have practised for thirty years. Everyone in the Supreme Court knows I have never taken unfair advantage of being Ziaul Ahsan\u2019s sister. What hurts is that a prosecutor threatened a lawyer in open court\u2014something unprecedented in Bangladesh\u2019s legal history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Sister\u2019s Portrait of the Brother the Media Calls a Monster<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nazneen described a very different Ziaul Ahsan from the demonic figure painted daily on television:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; A highly decorated para-commando, three-times \u201cBest Instructor\u201d of the Infantry School.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Never posted to DGFI (contrary to prosecution claims).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Played a key role in crushing militancy when Bangladesh was a \u201cred-alert zone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Personally funded houses, tube wells, and medical treatment for countless villagers\u2014not just in Barishal but across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; When Rana Plaza collapsed, he arrested the owner, Sohel Rana; the reward money he received was placed in a trust that still pays quarterly stipends to victims\u2019 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy brother himself says, \u2018I am just the salt in the curry\u2014without salt the dish is tasteless, but no one eats only salt.\u2019 Yet every crime in the last 15 years is being poured on his head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Larger Fear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nazneen Nahar ended with a quiet warning and a plea: \u201cThis is no longer about one officer. If a lawyer can be threatened in open court that \u2018you can also be made an accused,\u2019 then no defense lawyer in Bangladesh is safe. Media trials have already declared my brother guilty. I only ask: wait for the court\u2019s verdict before you call a man a mass murderer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/?p=4743\">Sheikh Hasina slams ICT-BD verdict as biased, politically motivated<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As she signed off, her voice finally cracked: \u201cMy brother says he will return from this darkness either on a stretcher or wearing garlands of flowers. He is a commando; he will never bow his head.&nbsp; Please pray for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a country where the rule of law is already under strain, November 23 will be remembered as the day a chief prosecutor told a defense lawyer, in front of three judges and a packed courtroom: \u201cYou could also be an accused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the tribunal sat in stunned silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday, Courtroom No. 1 of the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-BD) in Dhaka became a battleground. What began as a routine hearing in the enforced-disappearance case against retired Major General&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,123,101,42],"tags":[77,777,50,122,54,1143,65,56,1232,64,1231],"class_list":["post-4905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-ict-bd","category-interview","category-politics","tag-awami-league","tag-dgfi","tag-interim-government","tag-international-crimes-tribunal-ict-bd","tag-jamaat-e-islami","tag-judicial-violations","tag-mobocracy","tag-muhammad-yunus","tag-nazneen-nhar","tag-yunus-gang","tag-ziaul-ahsan"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4908,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4905\/revisions\/4908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyrepublicbd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}