Chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Language Veteran and valiant Freedom Fighter Advocate Ghulam Arieff Tipoo died of old-age complications at LabAid Hospital in the capital on Friday morning.
At the time of death, he was 93.
"ICT chief prosecutor Advocate Ghulam Arieff Tipoo breathed his last around 8am on Friday while undergoing treatment at LabAid Hospital in the capital," confirmed by ICT prosecutor in-charge Advocate Syed Haider Ali on Friday.
"Tipoo had been suffering from old-age complications for long and was admitted to LabAid Hospital in the city on Thursday," Ali added.
Tipoo, a veteran lawyer from Rajshahi, was observing duty as chief prosecutor of the ICT since its inception.
Tipoo started his career as a lawyer in 1958. He was elected president of the Rajshahi Bar Council and also served as a member of the senate and syndicate at Rajshahi University and the Bangladesh Bar Council multiple times.
The government appointed him as the chief of the war crimes prosecution panel in 2010 when the tribunal was formed to try the people involved in crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971.
Tipoo was born on August 28 in 1931 at Kamlakantapur village of Shibganj upazila under the then Maldah district of the British-India and now Chapainawabganj district.
His father Aftabuddin Ahmad was a district registrar. He was second among the nine siblings.
After passing secondary exam from Kaliachar School in 1948, Tipoo had completed higher secondary from Rajshahi College in 1950. He completed graduation from the same college and then obtained masters degree from the Dhaka University.
He was the general secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra Union from 1954 to 1956.
He was a valiant Freedom Fighter and also a Language Movement Veteran as he led the Bangla language movement in Rajshahi in 1952. He was a joint convenor of Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad (National Language Action Committee) of Rajshahi region in that time.
The government awarded him with the prestigious "Ekhusey Padak" in 2009 for recognizing especially for his outstanding contribution to the language movement.
ICT-1 chairman Justice Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar, in a message of condolence, expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Ghulam Arieff Tipoo.
Justice Jamadar prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
