Bangladeshi tribunal sends ex-intelligence chief to jail

Bangladesh's former intelligence chief was today sent to the jail by a tribunal to face charges of committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War while he was serving as an officer in the Pakistani Army.

Prosecutor Tureen Afroz said investigators were expected to interrogate former National Security Intelligence director general Muhammad Wahidul Haque in custody with the court's permission.

"The tribunal sent him to the jail to face the charges brought against him," a spokesman of the Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) told reporters.

According to prosecutors, Haque was serving in the Pakistan Army when the war broke during which he allegedly killed innocent people in the northwestern Rangpur Cantonment before his subsequent transfer to the then West Pakistan.

Haque, 69, returned to Bangladesh in 1973 when he was inducted in the police service where he rose up to the level of additional inspector general, a position next to the police chief and subsequently served as the intelligence acting chief.

"We are (still) investigating his alleged involvement in the war crimes...but we needed him to be arrested as he is a very influential person and trying to influence the investigation," Afroz said.