The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday upheld the death penalty for war criminal Mir Quasem Ali. The apex court rejected a petition filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami leader seeking a review of its earlier verdict that upheld his death sentence. A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha issued the order. With the rejection of the review plea, there has remained no further legal bar for going through the process for execution of Mir Quasem Ali, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said, expressing his satisfaction over the judgment. Now the last option that remains for the Jamaat leader is to seek presidential clemency, the top legal officer added. On June 19, Barrister Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem, filed the 68-page review petition with the Appellate Division against the death penalty handed down to him for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued death warrant for Mir Quasem hours after the apex court released the full text of its verdict upholding his death penalty on June 6. On March 8, the Appellate Division upheld the death penalty for Mir Quasem Ali for his war crimes. The International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced Mir Quasem Ali, Al-Badr chief in the port city of Chittagong in 1971, to death on November 2, 2014. On November 30, 2014, he filed an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the death penalty. Top Jamaat-e-Islami financier Quasem, now 64, was president of the Chittagong town unit of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, till November 6, 1971. He was then made general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha. — Dhaka, Aug 30 (UNB)
