A Vicious War Criminal Is Hiding in UK

 

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, born on 27 November 1948 in Bangladesh, is a British citizen convicted of war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 which involved the murder of Bengali intellectuals in collaboration with the brutal Pakistan Army in 1971.

This terrible fugitive Jamaat leader and convicted war criminal, currently living in London, has appealed to the UK Supreme Court against the dismissal of a defamation case filed by him against the Home Office, UK. The UK High Court and the Court of Appeal previously dismissed the case.

Fact Sheet on Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin

This note runs over the evidence and references published so far to establish that Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, a citizen of UK, the vice-chair of East London Mosque and Treasurer of Muslim Aid, but he was actively involved in war crimes during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence.

Background

After the independence of India in 1947, Pakistan was divided into two wings – East and West Pakistan. The people of East Pakistan – who were predominantly Bengali – increasingly felt economically and culturally oppressed by West Pakistan. In 1970, the political party, the Awami League, which represented the aspirations of those in East Pakistan who sought greater autonomy won the elections for the whole of Pakistan.

However, the West Pakistan leaders refused to establish the parliament, and on the night of 25 March 1971 its army initiated a military crackdown named “Operation Searchlight” in Dhaka, killing thousands of people in the city including students in Dhaka University campus. This was the beginning of the war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh out of what was East Pakistan. It is known as the Bangladesh Liberation War or War for the Independence of Bangladesh. During the war, there were widespread killings of the civilians and other atrocities. Towards the end of the War, a section of the intellectual community of the-then East Pakistan were murdered by the AL-Badar force belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami mass-liquidators, the militia wing of local collaborators of the savage Pakistani army.

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin’s Role in Bangladesh Genocide

In March 1971, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, a journalist at the Daily Purbodesh, was an active member of the Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS) – the student wing of the Jamaat-E-Islami which actively opposed Bangladesh liberation war and aided the Pakistani military.

In August 1971, the Jamaat-e-Islami, according to its own newspaper the Daily Sangram, set up the Al-Badr Squad comprising members of the ICS to violently combat the forces supporting Bangladesh’s liberation. Mueen-Uddin became a member of the Al-Badr.

A.   Evidences

In 1995, in a Channel 4 documentary, researchers presented a series of evidence and eyewitnesses that directly implicated Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin as the leader of the gang in at least two disappearances and killings, and one attempted disappearance.

1. Abduction and disappearance of Mofazzal Haider Chaudhury, Dhaka University Professor of Bengali:A family member present at the scene states: “they stormed into the house brandishing guns and with gamchas over their faces. While being taken away, Prof Chaudhury pulled down the gamcha from one of the men’s faces, he recognised him immediately. It was Mueen-Uddin; he knew him because he used to come to their house to study.”

2. Abduction and disappearance of Serajuddin Hossain, Journalist: Serajuddin Hossain’s wife identified Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin as one of the men who took her husband.

3. Attempted Abduction of Ataus Samad, BBC Journalist: It is known that Mueen-Uddin was involved in attempting to abduct BBC journalist Ataus Samad. Two tenants were woken up by a gang of men and saw the faces of the leader. After independence, when a photograph of Mueen-Uddin’s face was published they both recognised him as the man leading the abductions, that night.

Farida Banu, younger sister of Professor Giasuddin Ahmed, filed a case in this connection with Ramna Police Station in Bangladesh on September 24, 1997 against two Al-Badr cadres–Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzamanfor killing her brother on December 14 in 1971, resulting in a police investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The investigation report named Mueen-Uddin as one of the prime accused in relation to abduction and disappearance of eight Dhaka University professors on that night including Prof Ahmed. According to the case statement, on 14 December 1971, Al-Badr members Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman picked up Giasuddin Ahmed from Muhsin Hall premises, blindfolded him and whisked him in a microbus to an undisclosed location. He never came back.

C. Newspaper reports immediately after the intellectual killings naming Mueen-Uddin as the prime suspect based on confessions by captured Al-Badar leaders.

Bangladesh Observer reported on December 29 1971, “Chowdhury Mainuddin, a member of the banned fanatic Jamaat-e-Islami, has been described as the “operation-in-charge” of the killing of intellectuals in Dhaka by Abdul Khaleq, a captured ring leader of the Al-Badr and office bearer of the Jamaat-e-Islami.”

New York Times reports

New York Times reports on 2 January 2 1972 – “to his fellow reporters on the Bengali-language paper where he worked, Chowdhury Mueen Uddin was a pleasant, well-mannered and intelligent young man…there was nothing exceptional about him except perhaps that he often received telephone calls from the leader of a right-wing Muslim political party. But, investigations in the last few days show that those calls were significant. For Mr. Mueenuddin has been identified as the head of a secret, commando like organization of fanatic Muslims that murdered several hundred prominent Bengali professors, doctors, lawyer and journalists in a Dhaka brick yard. Dressed in black sweaters and khaki pants, members of the group, known as Al-Badar, rounded up their victims on the last three nights of the war…Their goal, captured members have since said, was to wipe out all Bengali intellectuals who advocated independence from Pakistan and the creation a of a secular, Muslem state.”

Soon after the war, Mueen-Uddins’s involvement in the intellectual killings came to light and several newspapers including the New York Times published articles alleging that he was the operation-in-Charge of the killings. Although the authorities sought Mueen-Uddin’s arrest in connection with these allegations, he however managed to evade arrest and investigation, and travelled to the UK where he ultimately obtained residence and nationality without disclosing his past antecedents.

Once in London, along with other members of the Jamaat-e-Islami who had escaped to London, he set up the Dawatul Islam which was in effect the UK front of the Jamaat. A split subsequently took place amongst the leadership of Dawatul Islam, and Mueen-Uddin then established Islamic Forum Europe, which continues to be the UK front of the Jamaat-e-Islami like a mass-slaughterers in 1971.

Very outrageous that British Supreme Court condemns the ICSF
It is very outrageous that British Supreme Court condemns The International Crimes Strategy Forum (ICSF) on behalf of war criminal Chowdhury Mueen Uddin. But he has been found guilty beyond doubt of crimes against humanity for his role in the killing of intellectuals during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971. A decade ago, the convicted criminal against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh (ICT-BD) filed a defamation case against the British Home Office. Recently, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled in his favor in that case. The ICSF described the verdict as surprising and disappointing. The agency said in a press release sent to the media that the UK Supreme Court made some unwarranted comments based on some one-sided and unsubstantiated criticisms and unresolved legal claims against the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh in the judgment of the case and the ICSF feels that the recent verdict was given extrajudicially.

As a signatory to the Genocide Convention and other international human rights treaties, the UK
Supreme Court’s decision points to the UK’s lack of commitment to preventing and prosecuting
genocide and other atrocious international crimes, and protecting the rights of victims.

UK must not provide sanctuary for criminals. In UK, these crimes are considered very
serious. War criminals are not provided with a safe haven here. UK has signed the Geneva
Convention and the Rome Statute, which are the basis for the International Criminal Court in
The Hague. This means that UK has committed itself to track, investigate and contribute to the
prosecution of those committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

All countries have a responsibility to prosecute these serious crimes and it is important that UK
should not become a refuge for people who have committed such crimes.

It is beyond shameful that the UK government has continued to defend the indefensible. UK
must end complicity in indefensible Bangladesh’s war crimes and war criminals.
 
Anwar A. Khan is a freedom fighter who
writes on politics and international issues.