The prosecution had submitted a copy of Sheikh Mujib's historic speech, exhibit 7, as part of the evidence against Jamaat-e-Islami exeutive council member Delwar Hossain Sayedee at the first war crimes tribunal.
The defence opened its cross-examination on Wednesday, the fifth day for war crimes investigator ASP Mohammad Helal Uddin, with questions about the CD of the Mar 7 speech.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1, set up on Mar 25, 2010 to deal with crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, indicted Sayedee on 20 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, arson and loot.
Appearing as the prosecution's 28th witness, the Assistant Superintendent of Police said he had collected a copy of the speech from the Bangladesh Film Archive and submitted it as an exhibit.
To defence counsel Mizanul Islam's question asking him whether the speech had been edited, Helal Uddin said he did not know.
The defence counsel then referred to the fifth schedule of the constitution where there is a transcript of the same speech and pointed to the anomalies.
He went through the parts that the CD did not have. For explanation, the investigator could only say that this might have happened when the speech had been edited later.
The prosecution, evidently rattled at this line of questioning, tried in vain to prevent the defence from what they said 'scrutinising' an exhibit at this phase of the trial.
The prosecution also said that the speech had nothing to do with the accused Sayedee and the matter could in fact have been dispensed with by bringing it to judicial notice.
Tribunal chairman, Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq, however, said the defence had every right to question the veracity of the prosecution's evidence and that was what it was doing. He allowed the cross-examination to proceed.
By lunch the defence had clearly established that the copy of CD was an edited version of the speech and not an exact rendition of what the Father of the Nation had stated in those 18 minutes inspiring the entire nation.
First case to trial
Sayedee's is the first case to proceed to the trial stage at ICT 1. The prosecution on Sept 4 proposed framing of charges against him on 31 counts for crimes against humanity and genocide.
The tribunal also sent Jamaat's former chief Ghulam Azam to jail on Jan 11. His indictment hearing began on Feb 15 and the court is scheduled to give Azam's indictment order on May 13.
Jamaat chief Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla have been detained on war crimes charges.
BNP MP and standing committee member, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, also behind bars, has been indicted for 23 charges on Apr 4. The prosecution has been ordered to begin with its opening statement on Apr 29.
Former BNP lawmaker and minister Abdul Alim is the only one out bail. With formal charges pressed against him, Alim saw his defence place his discharge petition on Monday. Further arguments will follow on Wednesday.
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