Barrister Abdullah-al Mamun on Sunday told the Supreme Court that then chief of general staff of army Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf was the key planner of the army mutiny, in which Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members were killed on August 15, 1975.

Mamun, counsel for convicts Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin, said only few army personnel were not involved with the mutiny. He said then deputy chief of army Major General Ziaur Rahman directed Col Shafayat Jamil, chief of 46 brigade, to resist the attack on Bangabandhu but Safayat did not carried out the order.

Mamun said Ziaur Rahman wanted to uphold the constitution through Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam after the killing of Bangabandhu. Two trials of the incident of August 15, 1975 have to be held as four military men, including Bangabandhu and his son Sheikh Jamal, were killed in the mutiny. The trials of killing of military men have to be held under the army act and the killing of the civilian have to be tried under the civil law, he said.

Mamun prayed to the court to direct the authority to reinvestigate and hold retrial of this case. He claimed that his client AKM Mohiuddin was not involved in the incident of Aug 15, 1975 and he is innocent. The Supreme Court concluded the hearing of Bangabandhu assassination case for the twentieth day on Sunday. The hearing was concluded at about 11:35am as one of the judges of the five-member Appellate Division bench felt sick. The court will resume the hearing at 9:30am tomorrow.

Advocate Khan Saifur Rahman, counsel for convicts Faruque Rahman and Mohiuddin Ahmed, started argument submission in the morning after barrister Abdullah-al Mamun concluded his submission. Five convicts -- dismissed army personnel Syed Farooqur Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, AKM Mohiuddin, and Bazlul Huda, now behind the bars, lodged the appeals with the SC in October 2007 against their death sentences pronounced by the High Court. The Supreme Court started the hearing on the appeals on October 5.

-Daily Star