Lawyer M Sarwar Hossain has withdrawn from representing 15 army officers facing trial at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-1) on charges of crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearances during the Awami League regime and killings during the July uprising.
Speaking to The Daily Star today, Sarwar said he discovered a conflict of interest. "Earlier, I filed a complaint with the tribunal over my own disappearance. One of the 15 officers is an accused in that complaint. Realising this while signing the vakalatnama, I decided to step down," he added.
Just a day earlier, on October 22, Sarwar had represented the officers during a hearing at the tribunal. It was the first time in Bangladesh's history that army officers appeared before a civil court on such charges.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, ordered the officers to be sent to jail after showing them arrested in three separate cases -- two involving enforced disappearances and one over the Rampura killing of 28 people during the July uprising.
The accused include former senior officials from the army, Rapid Action Battalion, and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.
Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her ex-defence adviser Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique are also accused in the two disappearance cases.