Dhaka, Jan. 22 -- The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has dismissed a petition challenging its jurisdiction to try the genocide and crimes against humanity cases over the mass uprising in July and August.

As a result, there is no bar to proceeding with the trials, according to the tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam.

On Wednesday, the three-member tribunal led by ICT Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder made the decision.

Chief Prosecutor Tajul represented the prosecution at the hearing, bdnews24.com reports.

Afterwards, he said: "A suspect, Ziaul Ahsan, filed this petition. In the petition, he challenged the power and jurisdiction of the tribunal. Their argument was that there was no war in Bangladesh in July a...