Khaleda Zia’s lawyer Aminul is the new chief prosecutor, replacing Jamaati Tajul

Staff Correspondent

The government has appointed Aminul Islam as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal. The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs issued a notification in this regard on Monday morning, February 23.

The notification signed by Solicitor Md. Manjurul Hossain said that Md. Aminul Islam has been appointed as the Chief Prosecutor until further orders to handle the tribunal’s cases.

At the same time, the order regarding the appointment of Tajul Islam was cancelled. He was appointed on September 5, 2024.

Pro-Jamaat lawyer Tajul Islam served on the reconstituted International Crimes Tribunal for the past one and a half years.

He was the lawyer for Jamaat-e-Islami leaders convicted of war crimes in this court. But after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024, he was appointed as the chief prosecutor for the government side in this court.

The prosecution then submitted 24 formal charges for crimes against humanity committed in July-August. These are currently being tried in Tribunals 1 and 2, with three verdicts announced, and two more cases pending.

It is worth noting that Tajul Islam was the legal affairs secretary of the student organization Shibir, Rajshahi University branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, in 1993. He completed his LLB from RU, which was Shibir’s militant stronghold at the time, and started his legal career in 1998. In his professional life, he has fought cases for notorious criminals of Shibir.

Tajul worked as a lawyer for Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah at the International Crimes Tribunal in 2013 after the trial of 1971 war criminals began during the Awami League government. Tajul also represented Jamaat’s top leader, the notorious Razakar Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

He appeared in court as a lawyer for all the Jamaat leaders who were convicted of war crimes in 1971, including Razakar Shiromani Ghulam Azam. Tajul Islam is also the joint convener of the AB Party, a party formed by another top Jamaat lawyer, Abdur Razzak, and known as Jamaat’s B-team.