Sayeedi Case Witness: Sukhranjan files case against Hasina
Staff Reporter :
Sayeedi case witness Sukhranjan Bali files complaint against Hasina, SK Sinha, 31 others over abduction and torture
Sukhranjan Bali, a key witness in the war crimes trial of late Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayeedi, has filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) accusing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, and 31 others of responsibility for his abduction, enforced disappearance, torture, and illegal imprisonment in India.
Bali, who disappeared from the ICT premises in Dhaka on 5 November 2012 after testifying in favour of Sayeedi, submitted his allegations to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday morning. Among those named in his complaint are former ICT chairman Justice Nizamul Haque Nasim, former law minister Shafique Ahmed, former state minister for law Qamrul Islam, former ICT judge ATM Fazle Kabir, ex-prosecutor Rana Dasgupta, former chief prosecutor Syed Haider Ali, and former investigation officer Helal Uddin. Former Pirojpur-1 lawmaker AKM Awal, former Pirojpur municipal mayor Habibur Rahman Malek, and several Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League leaders have also been accused.
In his written statement, Bali alleged that in 2010, ICT investigation officer Helal Uddin pressured him to testify falsely against Sayeedi by implicating him in the killing of his brother Bishabali during the 1971 Liberation War.
Bali said he refused, insisting that Sayeedi had no connection with the crime.
He claimed that when he rejected the demand, he was physically tortured at Rajlokkhi School in Pirojpur in the presence of local political leaders and activists.
According to Bali, he was threatened with death if he refused to testify falsely.
On 5 November 2012, the day of his scheduled testimony, Bali alleged he was abducted by plainclothes police from outside the ICT premises, blindfolded, and taken to a secret detention facility where he was held for nearly two months.
He said he was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, including electric shocks, in an attempt to force him to confess against Sayeedi.
Failing to coerce him, Bali said he was eventually handed over to India’s Border Security Force (BSF) through the Satkhira border with the help of Bangladeshi authorities.
He was later imprisoned in West Bengal’s Dumdum Central Jail for five years on charges of illegal entry before securing release with the help of rights organisations and a Supreme Court directive in India. He returned to Bangladesh in 2018.
Bali accused the ICT judges and prosecutors of deliberately ignoring CCTV footage from the tribunal premises that could have shown his abduction. Instead, he said, tribunal officials conspired to deny that he was abducted.
“This was part of a larger political conspiracy,” Bali stated in his petition. “I was abducted, tortured, trafficked across the border, and illegally jailed for years simply because I refused to give false testimony against Sayeedi. These acts violated my fundamental rights and amounted to crimes against humanity.”
Bali urged the tribunal to ensure justice and exemplary punishment for those responsible.
Delawar Hossain Sayeedi was convicted of crimes against humanity in 2013 and sentenced to death, a verdict widely debated at home and abroad.
He died in custody on 14 August 2023 while undergoing treatment at Bangladesh Medical University.