UNB, Dhaka: Jamaat-e-Islami called 24-hour countrywide hartal for Wednesday protesting the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) that upheld the death penalty of war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed, which had earlier been awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal-2. Makbul Ahmad, acting ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, announced the 24-hour strike for Wednesday on its website in protest against the death sentence of its secretary general Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed for killing intellectuals during Liberation War in 1971. The 24-hour shutdown will start from 6 am on Wednesday and end at 6 am Thursday. The SC on Tuesday upheld the death penalty of war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mojaheed. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by chief Justice SK Sinha, delivered the short order of the verdict in a crowded courtroom amid tight security in and around the apex court. The other judges of the bench are Justice Najmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foyez Siddique. However, the court commuted his death penalty to life term imprisonment for murder and torture of minority community Hindus in Bakchar village of Faridpur in 1971. The SC upheld his five years imprisonment for confining and torturing Ranjit Nath during the war. The appellate division also acquitted the Jamaat secretary general from the charge of abducting and killing noted journalist of the daily Ittefaq Sirajuddin Hossain during the war. Earlier on Monday, the court announced to give the order today. The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on July 17, 2013, awarded Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed death penalty for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in collaboration with the Pakistan occupation forces, after finding the Al Badar boss guilty of five, out of seven, charges. The charges included murder of intellectuals, genocide, abduction and persecution. On August 11, 2013, condemned prisoner Mojaheed filed an appeal with the Appellate Division against his capital punishment in the case for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
