Crimes against humanity: ICT prosecution pleads to put Ziaul Ahsan on trial
Next hearing scheduled for 8 January
The prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has pleaded to put Major General (retd) Ziaul Ahsan on trial in a crimes against humanity case linked to the enforced disappearance and killing of more than a hundred people during the Awami League government's tenure.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam submitted the application yesterday before the three-member tribunal led by Justice Md Golam Mortuja Mozumder. The next hearing has been scheduled for 8 January.
On 17 December last year, the prosecution submitted three separate charges against Ziaul Ahsan related to the killings. Ziaul has been in jail since 15 August 2024, after being arrested in Dhaka's Khilkhet area. He previously served as the director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC).
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After the hearing, Tajul Islam told the media that evidence had been found supporting allegations that Ziaul Ahsan was involved in over hundred enforced disappearances and killings.
Sunday's hearing marked the presentation of the "first episode" of what he described as a wider pattern of crimes, focusing on formal charge framing, he added.
Tajul Islam alleged that Ziaul personally took part in killings, was present at execution sites, and ordered subordinates to carry out murders while serving in senior intelligence roles at RAB, including as director of intelligence and later as additional director general.
He said victims included opposition political activists deemed threats to the Hasina government, as well as witnesses to the disappearances and killings, citing the case of a boatman known as Alkas Majhi.
According to the prosecution, Alkas's trawler was hired to transport detainees to rivers and coastal areas, where they were killed and their bodies dumped at sea to prevent recovery.
Tajul said Alkas later showed signs of psychological distress, prompting his family to approach RAB officials, who informed Ziaul Ahsan, after which an order was allegedly given to "finish" him. He alleged that anyone suspected of knowing too much about the killings was eliminated to prevent disclosure.
The prosecution said detainees were taken from secret detention sites, driven along routes from Tongi to Bhairab, killed, and their bodies dumped into rivers.
Later, bodies were allegedly disposed of in the Shitalakkhya River, weighted with bricks and cement sacks, before disposal sites were shifted to deeper waters near the Sundarbans to avoid detection.
Tajul Islam said eyewitnesses, including boatmen and officers involved in the operations, have testified in person, describing systematic efforts to disguise killings as gunfights and "crossfire" incidents.
