UNB, Dhaka :
Jamaat-e-Islami Bangla-desh on Wednesday called a 48-hour countrywide hartal in two phases for Thursday and Sunday demanding the release of its nayeb-e-ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee, jailed by the Supreme Court unto death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The first phase 24-hour strike will start at 6am on Thursday and continue till 6am on Friday while the second will begin at 6am on Sunday and end at 6am on Monday.
In a joint statement, Jamaat acting ameer Moqbul Ahmed and acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman announced the shutdown programme as part of its four-day protest programme, hours after the apex court verdict commuting Sayedee’s death penalty to imprisonment unto death.
The party will also hold a ‘doa’ programme on Friday and stage demonstrations on Saturday as part of their protest against the verdict and demanding the review of Sayedee’s punishment in the war crimes case.
Earlier in the day, a five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, reduced Sayedee’s death sentence handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 to imprisonment until death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
The long-pending final judgment was pronounced in the crowded courtroom at 10.06 am.
On February 28, 2013, the three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1 condemned Sayedee to death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, acquitting him of a dozen of the charges.
In the statement, the two Jamaat leaders urged people from all strata, including the devoted Muslims, to observe their programmes in a democratic and disciplined way.
They claimed that the blame for the misdeeds of a notorious Razakar Delu Shikder has been shifted to their leader Sayedee. “He has been denied justice at every tier of the judicial process.”
They, however, hoped that their leader will get justice if there is a review of the verdict.
In another statement, Islami Chhatra Shibir president Abdul Jabbar and secretary general Atiqur Rahman said, “This verdict has stigmatised the history of justice. No one having conscience can accept the judgement.”
