A special tribunal dealing with charges of crimes against humanity against four senior leaders of Bangladesh's largest Islamic party ordered authorities Monday to keep the accused in jail indefinitely. The charges stem from the nation's 1971 war for independence and alleged atrocities committed by Pakistani soldiers in a failed attempt to keep Bangladesh from breaking away. The Bangladeshi government says the soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200,000 women and forced millions more to flee their homes during the bloody nine-month war. The suspects being held by the tribunal are from the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, which sided with Pakistan during the war in which India backed those seeking independence. The suspects face charges such as genocide, murder, rape, torture, looting and arson. The party has said the charges are politically motivated. The long-delayed tribunal - which was a campaign promise of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during elections in 2008 - was finally set up in March. The suspects include Jamaat-e-Islami party chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and his senior party colleagues Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Abdul Quader Mollah and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman. They produced before the three-member tribunal during a hearing on their arrests on Monday. Justice Nizamul Huq asked authorities to keep them in jail until further order pending the criminal investigation.
