Ziaul led killings of BDR massacre witnesses

Major (retd) Md Sabbir Rahman Osmani, a former Army officer who also served as an officer of RAB, has given a chilling account of killings linked to former RAB intelligence chief Ziaul Ahsan at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in a crimes against humanity case filed over the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings committed during the Awami League regime.
The ICT-1 recorded the testimony on Thursday.
According to Sabbir’s testimony, at least 15 people, including a witness to the 2009 BDR killings, were shot dead, their abdomens slit open and bodies weighted with cement sacks before being dumped into rivers during a series of operations conducted by Ziaul Ahsan.
He told the tribunal that four people, including Nazrul Islam, an eyewitness to the BDR killings, were taken by a fishing trawler to the Baleshwar River at Char Duani in Patharghata of Barguna in May 2010. Their faces and bodies were covered, after which they were blindfolded and shot dead. Their abdomens were then cut open and cement-filled sacks were tied to their bodies before they were thrown into the river.
Sabbir said that members of RAB-8’s intelligence wing carried out the killings in the presence of Ziaul Ahsan.
He further testified that another person was killed and disposed of in the same manner in 2010. 
He also alleged that Alkas Majhi, a boatman whose trawler was used in what the witness described as Ziaul’s “Golf Operation” in 2011, was subsequently abducted and killed.
The witness described “Golf Operation” as a code name allegedly used for operations in which victims were killed and their bodies dumped in rivers after being weighted down to prevent them from resurfacing.
ICT Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam said that Sabbir was a key eyewitness to the killings attributed to Ziaul Ahsan. He also alleged that enforced disappearances and killings had been used to suppress dissent during the Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina.
The prosecution has also alleged that some of the killings were subsequently presented as staged “gunfights” to conceal the actual circumstances. These allegations remain part of the prosecution case and have yet to be determined by the tribunal.
Former army chief Gen (retd) Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan has already testified against Ziaul Ahsan in the case.
The tribunal is now expected to record the testimony of the investigation officer. The case will then move towards closing arguments.

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