Tureen regrets for uttering ‘objectionable’ word

Prosecutor Dr Tureen Afroz on Wednesday regretted for uttering a word on Tuesday against which the defence as well as the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 raised objection. The prosecutor on Tuesday concluded her legal arguments in the trial of ATM Azharul Islam, seeking death for the assistant secretary general of Jamaat by terming him as the brute (beast in the shape of a human) of 1971. On Wednesday, at the start of the defence arguments, Azhar’s counsel Shishir Munir raised verbal objection against the use of that term. In the absence of Dr Tureen, the tribunal asked for the opinion of fellow prosecutor Zead al-Malum in this regard.
The senior prosecutor however, regretted the use of that term by his colleague saying that it was not motivated but purely accidental. In the meantime, prosecutor Tureen entered the courtroom and taking the permission of the tribunal, she explained her position. “If the accused got offended by my uttering of such word, I am sorry for that. I did not utter the word for hurting him, I just used it to explain the level of his crimes during the war. If that violated the court proceedings, I am again regretting for that,” Tureen said.
The prosecutor also pledged to be more cautious in her use of words in future.
After that Shishir Munir placed arguments for his clients for the first day and the tribunal after that adjourned the hearing till Monday. The ICT-1 on November 12, 2013, indicted Azhar for committing crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation. A total of 19 witnesses, including the investigation officer, testified against Azhar. Of them the prosecution declared their 7th witness hostile. On the other hand, the defence produced one Anwarul Haque, a distant relative of Azhar, as their sole defence witness and exhibited their defence documents through him.