When evidence vanishes from a courtroom, a certain silence descends. Something heavier than the quiet of an empty room. The kind that bears the burden of unresolved issues, purposeful omissions, and things that were present before abruptly disappearing. It is becoming more difficult to ignore the silence that has been looming over Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for weeks.
When the story is reduced to its most basic components, it looks something like this. In a Facebook post last February, a prosecutor by the name of BM Sultan Mahmud made an accusation that the wife of Sheikh Abzalul Haque, a former police sub-inspector, had entered the room of fellow prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim with what he described as a heavy bag.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Institution | International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Bangladesh |
| Incident Type | Alleged evidence tampering — CCTV hard drive replacement |
| Key Date of Missing Footage | October 13, 2024 |
| Person Who Discovered Missing Footage | Administrative Officer Masud Rana |
| IT Expert (Spokesperson) | Tanvir Hassan Zoha, ICT Prosecution IT Expert |
| Allegation Origin | Prosecutor BM Sultan Mahmud (Facebook post, February 23, 2025) |
| Accused in Underlying Case | Former Police Sub-Inspector Sheikh Abzalul Haque |
| Case Background | Burning of six bodies in Ashulia — war crimes prosecution |
| Fact-Finding Committee Formed | March 10, 2025, by Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam |
| Prosecutor at Centre of Bribery Claim | Gazi MH Tamim |
| Additional Cyber Incident | Phone and WhatsApp account of Tribunal-1 Chairman Justice Md Golam Murtaza Mozumder were hacked |
| Status of Hackers | Identified but not yet arrested |
| Reference Source | The Daily Star — ICT Coverage |
| Video Recovery Status | Failed — footage could not be retrieved despite technical efforts |
This was not a formal legal filing or press conference. It was clear what was implied. Money had been exchanged. Additionally, before being found not guilty, Abzalul—who had initially been charged in a case involving the burning of six bodies in Ashulia—somehow became a prosecution witness.
An administrative officer by the name of Masud Rana made the sensible decision to verify whether any of this was accurate. He went to retrieve the CCTV footage from the relevant day, October 13, 2024. Instead, he discovered nothing. There were no glitches or corruptions in the video. It just didn’t exist. Additionally, upon closer inspection, investigators discovered something more concerning than a gap in the recording. The actual hard drives had been switched.
At a press conference, ICT’s IT specialist Tanvir Hassan Zoha affirmed this, selecting his words with the deliberate care of someone who understands the gravity of what he is saying. “We discovered that the hard drives were changed based on our preliminary investigations.
There, brand-new drives were installed. He pointed out that drives, both new and old, had been discovered in slots where the originals were meant to stay undisturbed. This was supported, at least initially, by the register book and the CCTV log. And yet—most importantly—the replacement’s precise date? He claimed he was unable to remember it.
It’s difficult not to think that detail is odd. Strange, but not impossible or inherently suspicious. These are surveillance systems within a tribunal established especially to deal with war crimes cases from the 1971 Liberation War, one of Bangladesh’s most closely watched legal establishments. Theoretically, everything inside that building should have a careful chain of custody. The kind of detail that doesn’t sit well is the fact that a hard drive was switched, and nobody can pinpoint the exact time.
The fact that the video is permanently lost exacerbates the situation. There were attempts at technical recovery. They were unsuccessful. If there was anything incriminating on that drive, it is no longer retrievable. This means that the one piece of objective evidence that could have resolved the bribery allegation at its core cannot be used to verify it.
The fact-finding committee, established on March 10 by Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam, will likely have to face the question of whether that result serves anyone’s interest.
And then there’s the other issue, since there is, of course, another issue. It became apparent that Justice Md Golam Murtaza Mozumder, chairman of Tribunal-1, had had his phone and WhatsApp account hacked around the same time that these hard drive issues were coming up. Zoha affirmed that the culprit had been identified by law enforcement. There had been no arrests.
He said that once the IP address was officially acquired, it would be made public through legal channels. That is a legitimate legal precaution. Additionally, it implies that the public is being asked to wait once more for answers that continue to elude them.
Every one of these incidents has an explanation when considered separately. Hard drives are replaced when they malfunction. Hacking occurs on phones. In politically charged institutions, accusations are common. However, taken as a whole, they paint a picture that is at the very least extremely uncomfortable in a tribunal that is already subject to intense public scrutiny.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that the organization that was supposed to hold people accountable for some of Bangladesh’s most serious past crimes is turning into a topic that needs to be held accountable.
It is genuinely unclear whether this is institutional negligence, intentional sabotage, or something more ambiguous. It is undeniable that a surveillance system intended to offer this kind of institutional transparency failed at the exact time it was most needed. The hard drive was switched by someone. The video is no longer available. Additionally, the tribunal is currently being scrutinized just as much as the cases it was designed to hear.
