War crimes evidence found against 11 Mymensingh suspects

Investigators say they have found evidence that 11 men from Mymensingh's Gafargaon committed genocide during the Liberation War. Five of the suspects – Mohammad Khalilur Rahman Mir, 62, Mohammad Shamsujjaman, 65, Mohammad Abdullah, 62, Mohammad Abdul Khalek Akanda, 68, and Mohammad Rais Uddin Azadi, 74 – are behind bars, the UNB reports. Others are on the run. The International Crimes Tribunal ordered their arrest on Monday. The tribunal's investigation agency found the men's involvement in genocide, torture, arson attack, looting and confinement during the 1971 war, Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, coordinator and chief investigator of the agency, told a media briefing in Dhaka. He said the investigation report would be submitted to the tribunal’s prosecutor later in the day. Tribunal's investigators started looking into allegations against the suspects on October 16, 2014. Suspected war criminals were put on trial after the government formed the International Crimes Tribunal in 2010. Most of the convicts so far belong to Jamaat-e-Islami, the party which openly opposed Bangladesh's liberation. An estimated three million people were killed and millions of others were forced to seek refuge in India during the war with Pakistan.