(BSS) - Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Md Aminul Islam today said witnesses in different cases have testified that incumbent Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was tortured at the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) at the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) headquarters in Dhaka during the 1/11 period.

"The JIC that we visited today was the place where the Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was brought to one of its rooms during the 1/11 period. We have also found information through the accounts of various witnesses during our investigation that he was subjected to torture there. These findings will be reflected in the trials in due course," he said while talking to newsmen at the DGFI headquarters after inspecting the JIC this noon.

Terming today`s visit as part of the trial proceedings, the chief prosecutor said, people were brought to this facility, detained and subjected to torture and other forms of abuse.

"It later became known as `Aynaghar`. Detainees were held there in inhumane conditions for days, months and even years. We were able to get some sense of the brutality they endured through today`s visit," he added.

Md Aminul Islam said they will urge the government to ensure that no TFI (Task Force for Interrogation) cell, JIC or so-called `Aynaghar` is ever established again in Bangladesh in the future.

"If any citizen of the country commits a crime, he or she must be brought under the law and made to face trial. But no citizen should ever become a victim of any extrajudicial killing. No one should be subjected to unnecessary harassment by any law enforcement agency. No one should be detained and subjected to harassment in custody for days or months," he further said.

Led by ICT-1 Chairman Justice Golam Mortuza Mazumder, the delegation that inspected the JIC included Justice Shafiul Alam Mahmud and Justice Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury, Daily Manabzamin Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, Supreme Court Reporters Forum General Secretary Mehedi Hasan Dalim, its Executive Committee Member Mazharul Hoque Manna, and Law Reporters Forum President Md Yasin, among others.