Prosecutor Ali was supposed to present his arguments in support of the formal charges against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla on Tuesday at the International Crimes Tribunal, set up to deal with the crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
The prosecutor was so completely lost that the judges had to take pity and brief him on how he should proceed with the case. Eventually, after being repeatedly prompted, Ali asked for more time for preparation and was promptly granted one more day, much to the relief of his colleagues.
Molla's case was the third on the day's agenda with the tribunal fixing Mar 20 for BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury's indictment order, and Mar 19 for further hearing in the case against former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam.
Mohammad Ali, who is handling Molla's case, began by referring to a query of the tribunal about retrospective effect.
He brought it to the judges' attention that they had just passed an order in Salauddin Quader's case noting that almost all laws dealing with crimes against humanity had retrospective effect. The prosecutor further pointed to a section of the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act of 1973 that he said specifically mentioned that crimes committed before or after the act could be dealt by the tribunal.
He went on to say that he was in favour of trying Molla as an 'individual' or as a member of an auxiliary force as stipulated in the 1973 Act.
Tribunal member Justice A T M Fazle Kabir interrupted him pointing out that the formal charges identified Molla as an Al Badr leader. "But where is it mentioned that he was an Al Badr? Do you have any evidence or document?"
The Al Badr was one of the militias set up by the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing to actively oppose the liberation forces and thwart their efforts in 1971.
The Al Badr, Al Shams and the Razakars were notorious for their collaboration with the Pakistani occupation army and heinous crimes they committed against Bengalis during the War.
Mohammad Ali then referred to a certain document on the seizure list and cited a page number.
Upon being prompted by the tribunal chairman, Justice Nizamul Huq, the prosecutor began reading what turned out to be a report of the daily Bhorer Kagoj from 2007.
The report only outlined the incidents of late March of 1971 that the prosecutor had related before in the formal charges.
Justice Kabir interrupted him before he could get very far and said, "But I did not want to know about this."
Ali: "You wanted to know whether Quader Molla was present in Dhaka at that time."
The judges then proceeded to correct the glaring omission that they could only presume as a misunderstanding. Justice Huq said, "No no, [Justice Kabir] asked where does it show that the Abdul Quader Molla belongs to Al Badr?"
Justice Kabir: "There should be district-wise lists of the Al Badr members."
At this point, prosecutor Ali began flipping pages of documents in front of him in a bid to locate the evidence being asked for.
The futility of his ardent endeavour embarrassed his colleagues behind him at the prosecution benches while others found the effort hilarious.
Even the judges did not hold back their amusement at the prosecutor's efforts.
Tribunal member Judge A K M Zaheer Ahmed then proceeded to give him some tips. He said the prosecutor should make notes of what evidence, documents or witnesses he had in support of his charges and where they were.
"You make a note of that and tell us where these are," said the judge pointing out that in that way the prosecutor would be able to better assist the tribunal.
The prosecutor then said he would answer the query about Molla's belonging to the Al Badr later and proceeded to read another part of the formal charge.
The tribunal interrupted him once again saying that he had already read the formal charge once.
The prosecutor differed with his colleagues, when the tribunal asked what evidences he had in support of his charges.
Ali said the first four charges were based on the newspaper (Bhorer Kagoj) report. When asked whether there were no witnesses, the prosecutor said, "No, there aren't any."
But other members of the prosecution kept saying that there were witness testimonies in support of those charges.
At one point the chief prosecutor, Ghulam Arieff Tipoo, asked, "But don't you have notes about all these?"
In order to confirm the previous answer and obviously to make sure that they were hearing it right, the judges asked again whether all four charges were based on one report.
Judge Ahmed asked, "There are no witnesses?"
The prosecutor stuck to his position and said no. The judge had by then clearly remembered from the document he had perhaps perused and referred to certain portions of the documents of the prosecution. He said, "But there are witnesses!"
At this point, the tribunal chairman proceeded to provide the prosecutor with some tips as anxious prosecutors kept going forward to the podium to whisper into Mohammad Ali's ear and returning to their benches.
Justice Nizamul Huq told him he should make a list of evidences in support of the charges. "There are just seven you have submitted and it won't take you long. An hour at most."
Given the confusion all around, the tribunal suggested that the prosecutor pray for more time which Mohammad Ali finally did and the proceedings were adjourned until Wednesday.
The investigation panel started probe against Quader Molla on July 21, 2011, and he was shown arrested in the tribunal on Aug 2.
In the investigation report submitted on Nov 1 against the Jamaat leader, he was charged for involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity – including murder, rape, arson, genocide and looting.
On Dec 18, the prosecution submitted formal charges against Molla, indicting him of genocide and crimes against humanity on seven counts, including the killing of 344 people at Mirpur in Dhaka during the 1971 war.
Seven specific charges brought against Quader Molla include killing, arson and looting in Mohammadpur, Mirpur and Keraniganj areas in the city.
The tribunal on Dec 28 took cognizance of charges of crimes against humanity pressed against him.
THE 'BUTCHER' OF BENGALIS
During the war, Quader was widely known as a "butcher" for his direct involvement in massacring Bangalis. In league with the Urdu-speaking Biharis and other non-Bangalis, he unleashed a killing spree even before the crackdown on Bangalis by Pakistani forces on the night of March 25, 1971, known as "Operation Searchlight".
Quader and some others were accused by Mozaffar Hossain, in a case filed at Keraniganj police station on Dec 17, 2007, of killing his father Mostafa during the war.
Another case was filed against him with Pallabi police the following year in which he was finally arrested on July 13, 2010.
Besides Quader, others already arrested on war crimes charges are former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam, present Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, executive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee, assistant secretary general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, BNP's standing committee member and lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and former member of BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman's cabinet Abdul Alim.
Of the eight Jamaat and BNP leaders facing the charges, only Alim is out on conditional bail.
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