Dhaka is reeling from explosive accusations against former chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, Mohammad Tajul Islam. Prosecutor BM Sultan Mahmud has leveled serious charges of corruption and misconduct against Tajul and his associate Ghazi Monawar Hussain Tamim, claiming they turned the top prosecutorial post into a profit-making syndicate.
Sultan detailed how, during July 2024 protests, the wife of accused Abzal visited Tamim’s office—a fact reported but ignored, with Sultan himself reprimanded instead. Tamim later admitted the visit publicly. Sultan alleges irregularities in selecting state witnesses and naming accused in multiple cases, backed by video evidence.
In the Chankarpul incident, where security forces allegedly fired on protesters killing at least six, Sub-Inspector Ashraful was caught on video ordering shots but made a witness rather than accused. Sultan holds the footage and offers it for verification. Similar concerns plague the Abu Saeed murder case in Rangpur, where Assistant Police Commissioner Al Imran Hussain was reportedly sidelined despite witness testimonies against him.
Former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was also controversially turned into a state witness without justification, Sultan claims. Tajul dismissed these as baseless personal attacks during a Monday press conference, insisting investigations found no truth to them.
On the same day, Aminul Islam officially took charge as the new chief prosecutor from Tajul at the tribunal premises. Appointed after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster by Muhammad Yunus’s interim government, Tajul’s tenure drew global scrutiny for procedural lapses and controversial rulings in high-profile cases. These allegations threaten to deepen the tribunal’s crisis amid Bangladesh’s political upheaval.