Hefazat leader Mufti Izaharul, 7 others acquitted in Ctg militancy case
The case dates back to 13 December 2010, when RAB’s then-deputy assistant director of Chattogram zone Ayub Ali filed two separate cases against the eight accused at Rauzan Police Station, one under the Anti-Terrorism Act and another under the Explosives Act.
A Chattogram court has acquitted Hefazat-e-Islam's Nayeb-e-Amir and Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Mufti Izaharul Islam Chowdhury and seven others in a militancy training case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Judge Md Abu Hannan of the Chattogram Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal delivered the verdict yesterday (4 August), confirmed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Abdus Sattar.
The seven other individuals acquitted are Mahfuzur Rahman Apu, Abul Farah Rumman, Md Abul Kalam, Salahuddin Hossain Bhuiyan, Abdullah Al Amin, Maulana Noman, and Maulana Sabbir Ahmed.
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SPP Sattar said, "The charges against Mufti Izaharul Islam Chowdhury and the other accused could not be proven. Based on the lack of sufficient evidence, the court acquitted the defendants in its verdict."
The case dates back to 13 December 2010, when RAB's then-deputy assistant director of Chattogram zone Ayub Ali filed two separate cases against the eight accused at Rauzan Police Station, one under the Anti-Terrorism Act and another under the Explosives Act.
The charges alleged that during a raid in a rubber plantation on 12 December 2010, RAB arrested five individuals, while others escaped.
The arrestees were reportedly found with 33 extremist books and bomb-making materials, and during the interrogation, they allegedly claimed the training was supervised by Izaharul. He was serving as the director of Jameatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasah in Chattogram's Lalkhan Bazar at the time.
The court recorded testimonies of three witnesses in the Anti-Terrorism Act case, while the trial of the Explosives Act case is still ongoing.
However, the defence presented a strong counter-argument.
Advocate Abdus Sattar, who represented Izaharul, told the media, "We argued that the five individuals allegedly arrested from Rauzan were, in fact, picked up from Dhaka and Pabna about one and a half months earlier. Their families had informed the media at the time, but RAB later staged the raid.
"The court accepted our argument and acquitted all eight of the accused."
During the verdict, seven of the accused were present in court, having been released on bail. The eighth accused, Sabbir Ahmed, attended the hearing virtually from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur, where he is being held in connection with another case.
