The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 has sentenced Mahbub of Tangail to death, in a case filed over the murder of Danbir Roy Bahadur Ranada Prasad Saha, alias RP Saha, and his son Bhabani Prasad Saha during 1971's Liberation War.
Justice Md Shahinur Islam, chairman of the three-member panel of ICT-1, pronounced the sentence on Thursday.
Mahbub has been found guilty in all three charges of crimes against humanity framed against him by ICT-1 on March 28, 2018.
The two other charges are: killing 33 Hindu people in Baimhati village – the ancestral home of RP Saha in Mirzapur of Tangail, and torturing 22 Hindu people in villages in Mirzapur and Narayanganj.
RP Saha's family, who were present at the court, have expressed their satisfaction with the verdict.
"We have waited for justice for 48 years," said Srimati Saha, wife of RP Saha's son Bhabani Prasad Saha. "We have found justice at last."
Bhabani's son and RP Saha's grandson, Raju Prasad Saha, said the verdict has "taken a load off of his shoulders".
Ranadash Gupta stood for the prosecution, while Gazi MH Tamim, was the defence counsel.
The defence counsel prayed for Mahbub's acquittal, and said he would appeal against the verdict.
The date to deliver the sentence was fixed, through a short order, by the same panel on Wednesday.
Earlier on April 24, the ICT-1 put the verdict on CAV (curia advisari vult, a Latin legal term meaning the court awaits verdict), as both prosecution and the defence concluded their arguments on that day.
On April 7, the prosecution concluded their part of arguments in the case.
Mahbub has been called a Razakar (Pakistani's collaborators).
According to the charge framing order, Mahbub, 69, is accused of carrying out attacks in different areas of Tangail and Narayanganj, alongside his father and local Peace Committee chief Wadud Moulana and brother, Md Abdul Mannan.
On the same day, Mahbub, and his associates from the Razakar Bahini and Pakistani army, attacked Saha's residence on Sirajdikhan Road of Khanpur in Naryanganj town.
There, they detained five, including Saha and his son Bhabani Prasad Saha, tortured them, and took them away. They never returned.
Mahbub was shown arrested in a case under ICT Act, 1973, on November 7, 2017.
The prosecution submitted the formal charge against the lone accused on January 11, 2018.
