The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Tuesday ordered Major (retd) Mozaffar Hossain to be produced before it on 23 July for crimes against humanity in connection with a case during the July Uprising in Feni.

The order came after the prosecution sought to have Mozaffar shown arrested in the case alongside Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury (retd), who had already been arrested in the same allegation.

Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Aminul Islam said investigators had uncovered evidence of communications between Mozaffar and Masud during the course of the investigation.

"Based on those findings, we sought the tribunal's order to produce him in the case," he said.

According to case documents, Masud served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army's 9th Infantry Division in 2007 before becoming coordinator of the National Coordination Committee on Combating Serious Crimes following the political changeover of 1/11. 

He later served as Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Australia until 2011 and was elected as a Jatiya Party lawmaker from Feni-3 (Sonagazi-Daganbhuiyan) in the 2018 general election.

Speaking at a press briefing in Dhaka on Monday, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said that Mozaffar will be tried under the Army Act through a General Court Martial over the assassination of former President Ziaur Rahman. His alleged accomplices had also been tried in military courts. 

He added Mozaffar had remained in hiding under a false identity in a neighbouring country for decades before being arrested.

Mozaffar, who had been a fugitive for 45 years, was arrested from a house in Dhaka's Banani area on 15 July and handed over to the Military Police at Dhaka Cantonment the following day.