The International Crimes Tribunal has ordered that ex-army Muzaffar Hossain, previously arrested last week over the assassination of former President Ziaur Rahman, be shown as arrested in a case involving alleged crimes against humanity committed during the July Uprising in Feni. 

The tribunal also granted investigators permission to interrogate him for two days to facilitate the investigation.

The order was issued on Thursday, by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-2), led by Justice Nazrul Islam. Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam took part in the hearing.

Earlier, at around 11:00 a.m., Muzaffar was produced before the tribunal. 

The prosecution applied to have him shown as arrested as a co-accused alongside Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Masud Uddin Chowdhury in the crimes against humanity case.

Chief Prosecutor Md. Aminul Islam said the prosecution obtained information indicating that Muzaffar Hossain had communicated with another arrested accused, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Masud Uddin Chowdhury, on various occasions.

“Based on this information, he was produced before the tribunal. Following the hearing, the court ordered that he be shown as arrested in the July mass killing case”, he told Daily Waadaa.

According to case documents, Masud served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army's Ninth Infantry Division in 2007 and later coordinated the National Coordination Committee on Serious Crimes following the political changeover of 1/11.

He was appointed Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Australia in 2008 and remained in the post until 2011. In 2018, he joined the Jatiya Party and was elected to parliament from the Feni-3 constituency.

Separately, Home Affairs Adviser Salahuddin Ahmed said last Monday that Mozaffar will face trial under the Army Act through a General Court Martial.

"He had remained in hiding in a neighbouring country under a false identity for many years. Based on intelligence information, he was arrested and handed over to the Bangladesh Army for trial under the Army Act," Salahuddin told a press conference in Dhaka.

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

The prosecution has not publicly disclosed the specific allegations linking Mozaffar to the crimes against humanity investigation beyond citing his alleged communication with Masud.