Kazi Zahidul Hasan :The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday upheld death sentences handed down to Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for their crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 War of Independence, rejecting their review petitions.A four-member Appellate Division of SC headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdict at 11:30am amid tight security vigil of security forces in and around the SC complex since early morning.The verdict has cleared the way for their execution. The two top war criminals are now left with the last option of seeking presidential clemency. The bench heard Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mojaheed’s plea on Tuesday and the BNP Standing Committee Member Salauddin Quader (SQ) Chowdhury’s plea on Wednesday morning prior pronouncing its verdict.The hearing for Chowdhury’s review plea started at around 9:10am and it lasted little more than an hour. During the hearing, the apex court said, the documents submitted by Chowdhury on his study at a Panjab University in 1971 were not acceptable. “There are many anomalies in the statement of the university certificates given by a professor to Chowdhury,” the Court said.Earlier, defence claimed that Chowdhury was in Bangladesh during the Liberation War. He went to Pakistan on March 29, 1971 for studying in Punjab University and he returned to the country in 1974, they said.The death-row convicts Chowdhury and Mojaheed on October 14 filed the review petitions to the SC, seeking acquittal on all the charges against them.In his instance reaction after the verdict, chief lawyer of Mojaheed and Chowdhury S Q Khandker Mahbub Hossain, said no one can refute the verdict as it came from the Appellate Division.Asked about their next course of action, Mahbub said, “It depends on the government and the convicts. The government can pardon the convicts if they seek presidential clemency.” “The trial process of the two war criminals has ended after the disposal of the review petitions by the SC. Now, there is no legal bar for execution of the verdict,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters after the SC ruling.Regarding presidential clemency, the AG said, “Now there is no time bar for SQ Chowdhury and Mojaheed to seek mercy. They may be asked whether they would seek clemency or not. If they file mercy petitions, their prayers will be sent to the President.” Mojaheed was found to be a key mastermind of the massacre of the country’s top intellectuals just ahead of the December 16, 1971 Independence War victory. Chowdhury carried out atrocities particularly at his home district of southeastern Chittagong, leading a violent campaign against the Hindus.He was the chief of infamous Al-Badr force during the Liberation War.The International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) on July 17, 2013 handed down death sentenced to Mojaheed for planning and killings of intellectuals including scientists, academics and journalists, and his involvement in the murder and torture of Hindus during the war.The tribunal found him guilty in five out of the seven charges and sentenced to death in two of them.Mojaheed was arrested on June 29, 2010 on charges of hurting religious sentiment and defying court orders. He was later shown arrested in the war crimes case on August 8. The tribunal indicted him on June 21, 2012. The Jamaat leader filed an appeal against the tribunal verdict with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on August 11, 2013. After a nine days hearing that and the hearing began on April 29 that year, the Appellate Division on June 16, 2015 delivered its judgement, upholding death for the Jamaat secretary general. The apex court also upheld his life sentence for killing composer Altaf Mahmud, Jahir Uddin Jalal, Badi, Rumi, Jewel and Azad at the Old MP Hostel at Nakhalpara in Dhaka.The court upheld his five years’ jail term for confining and torturing Ranjit Nath, a civilian, at a Bihari camp in Faridpur.Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) on October 1, 2013 sentenced SQ Chowdhury to death for his crimes against humanity. The tribunal found Salauddin guilty of nine of the 23 charges brought against him of committing crimes against humanity.He was handed death penalty for four charges – involvement in the killing of Natun Chandra Singha, Awami League leader Mozaffar Ahmed and his son; and genocide in Raozan.Law enforcers arrested Chowdhury on December 16, 2010 at Banani in the capital in connection with torching a car in Moghbazar on June 26. He was shown arrested on December 19 following a warrant issued by the tribunal.He lodged appeal against his sentence on October 29, 2013 and the Appellate Division in its verdict on July 29, 2015, upheld the death sentence for him.
