Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin (চৌধুরী মঈনুদ্দীন; born 27 November 1948), is a British citizen convicted of war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War which involved the murder of Bengali intellectuals in collaboration with the Pakistan Army.

After the liberation of Bangladesh, Chowdhury escaped from Bangladesh and attained British citizenship.

Bangladesh has yet to file a request with the UK government to bring back Mueen, and the two countries do not have any extradition treaty signed between them.

Chowdhury is a founder of the Islamic Forum of Europe, and a trustee and former chairman of Muslim Aid, and a director of Muslim spiritual care provision in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS).

Since moving to the UK in the early 1970s, Mueen-Uddin has taken British citizenship and built a career as a community activist and Muslim leader.

Mueen has remained in the United Kingdom since leaving Bangladesh shortly after its independence in 1971.

Mueen-Uddin denies the charges.

He has been accused of war crimes prior to the establishment of the ICT.

In 1971, Mueen-Uddin was a journalist at the Daily Purbodesh.

He fled Bangladesh shortly after its independence in 1971, and went to the United Kingdom via India, Nepal and Pakistan In the United Kingdom he was able to create a new life.

He was a special editor of the London-based weekly Dawat and a leader of the London-based Jamaat organisation Dawatul Islam.

Mueen-Uddin is a director of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), a member of Multi Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy (MFGHC), and a trustee of Muslim Aid.

He is currently a citizen of the UK.

In the film, Mueen-Uddin was accused of being a member of the pro-Pakistan paramilitary force Al-Badr during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and of being involved in war crimes.

Both Mueen and Khan were charged with committing a war crime by killing 18 intellectuals who were Dhaka University Professors Ghyasuddin Ahmed, Rashidul Hasan, Anwar Pasha, Faizul Mahi, famous playwright and Professor Munier Chowdhury, Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury, Dr Abul Khair, Dr Santosh Chandra Bhattacharyya and Dr Sirajul Haque Khan, Professor of Cardiology Mohammed Fazle Rabbee, eminent eye specialist AFM Alim Chowdhury, Physician Mohammad Martuza, Novelist and Journalist Shahidullah Kaiser, Journalist and Poet Selina Parvin, Journalists Serajuddin Hossain, Syed Nazmul Haque, ANM Golam Mostafa, and Nizamuddin Ahmed, in between 10 and 15 December 1971.

An arrest warrant also issued for them.

Both of them was most wanted after Bangladesh liberation war.

According to prob report Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin was "operation-in-charge of Al-Badr".

The widow of one victim, Dolly Chaudhury, claims to have identified Mueen-Uddin as one of three men who abducted her husband, Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury, a prominent scholar of Bengali literature, on the night of 14 December 1971.

"I was able to identify one [of the abductors], Mueen-Uddin," she said in video testimony, seen by The Sunday Telegraph.

"He was wearing a scarf but my husband pulled it down as he was taken away. When he was a student, he often used to go to my brother in law's house. My husband, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, we all recognised that man."

Professor Chaudhury was never seen again.

In 1972, The New York Times reported that he "has been identified as the head of a secret, commando-like organization of fanatic Moslems", In 1995, a documentary film made by David Bergman, entitled War Crimes File was aired on British television channel Channel 4 producing comprehensive evidence of his involvement and active participation in the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.

In 1972, The New York Times reported that he "has been identified as the head of a secret, commando-like organization of fanatic Moslems", in connection with the Bangladesh liberation war.

In 1989 he was a key leader of protests against Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses.

Although Scotland Yard said in the 1990s that Bangladesh had primary jurisdiction for prosecuting Mueen for the 1971 killings, Britain could reconsider its decision to not prosecute.

In 1995, a documentary film War Crimes File by David Bergman was aired on British television channel Channel 4 about the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.

Around the same time he helped to found the extremist Islamic Forum of Europe, Jamaat-e-Islami's European wing, which believes in creating a sharia state in Europe and in 2010 was accused by a Labour minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, of infiltrating the Labour Party.

Tower Hamlets' directly elected mayor, Lutfur Rahman, was expelled from Labour for his close links with the IFE.

Until 2010 Mueen-Uddin was vice-chairman of the controversial East London Mosque, controlled by the IFE, in which capacity he greeted Prince Charles when the heir to the throne opened an extension to the mosque.

He was also closely involved with the Muslim Council of Britain, which has been dominated by the IFE.

He was chairman and remains a trustee of the IFE-linked charity, Muslim Aid, which has a budget of £20 million.

He has also been closely involved in the Markfield Institute, the key institution of Islamist higher education in the UK.

In 2012, Bangladesh law minister Shafique Ahmed stated that Mueen-Uddin would be charged for war crimes.

However, the prosecution has delayed submitting charges.

He is accused of being a top member of the notorious paramilitary force Al-Badr and of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami political party, which fought for the country to remain part of Pakistan.

Mueen-Uddin has denied all allegations.

On 3 November 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), established by the Government of Bangladesh to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, sentenced Mueen-Uddin, in absentia, to death for killing 9 teachers of Dhaka University, 6 journalists and 3 doctors in 1971.

On 2 May 2013, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal brought war criminal charges against Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuz Zaman Khan.

The United Kingdom does not have an extradition agreement with Bangladesh, and the UK was reluctant to extradite Mueen-Uddin without assurances of a fair trial, plus assurances that there would be no death penalty in the event of a guilty verdict.