Ziaul Ahsan refuses handcuffs before ICT appearance, tells journalists ‘We will win’

Major General Ziaul Ahsan (retd), an accused in a crimes against humanity case over the 2013 Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, refused to wear handcuffs while being brought before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) today (12 November).

“We will win. No one can stop us,” he told journalists.

Ziaul was brought from jail to the tribunal under tight security shortly after 1:30pm.

As he stepped out of the prison van, a police officer tried to handcuff him, but he refused, asking, “I will not wear these. Under which law is this required?”

Following a brief argument inside the van, police escorted him out without handcuffs and took him to the tribunal lockup.

At around 2pm, he was brought into the courtroom of Tribunal-2, where he repeated his message to journalists.

The prosecution then began its hearing on framing formal charges against 41 accused, including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, before the tribunal’s three-member panel headed by Chairman Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury.

Ten other arrested accused were also brought before the tribunal for the hearing.

They are Jasod President Hasanul Haq Inu, former minister Dipu Moni, former state minister for home affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku, former food minister Abdur Razzaq, former minister Abdul Latif Siddique, former IGP AKM Shahidul Haque, former deputy IGP Abdul Jalil Mandal, Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir, journalists Mozammel Haque Babu and  Farzana Rupa.

The tribunal had initially scheduled the charge-framing hearing for 1 November but postponed it to yesterday following a prosecution request for more time due to former IGP Shahidul Haque’s illness.