Sagar Biswas :
The ruling Awami League government has expressed disappointment over the verdict delivered by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court commuting the death sentence of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the Nayeb-e Amir of Jamaat-e Islami.
In an instant reaction Law Minister Anisul Huq said, “I’m shocked with the verdict. I expected the capital punishment. Although I’ve accepted the judgment, I’m mentally disturbed.”
“I’ve to respect the court order being a minister and a citizen of the country…He [Sayedee] was member of a peace committee during the Liberation War. And so, there’s no doubt that he was against the independence of Bangladesh. But the court didn’t consider it as a big issue.”
Ruling out the possibility of secret understanding between the government and Jamaat, he said, “There is no negotiation with Jamaat. The government never negotiated with the criminals who had committed crimes against humanity.”
Echoing the same, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday said that the judgement did not fulfill his expectation.
“Sayedee will serve in jail till his natural death! It was beyond my expectation. I had expected that the Apex court will uphold death sentence of Sayedee that ICT had delivered earlier,” the top law official of government said.
“We did not get the judgement as per our expectation. And there is also no scope for filing review petition by the defence as the trial was run under a special law,” he said expressing grave dissatisfaction.
Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, who is also 14-party alliance spokesperson, expressed his frustration over the verdict.
“The AL-led 14-party alliance hoped that the court would uphold the death sentence… However, we are showing respect to the SC verdict and accepted it,” he said after a meeting with the alliance partners.
“Those who are now complaining about compromise with Jamaat are willful sinners…The people who sense entente are willful sinners. They are talking nonsense,” he lamented when asked about the alleged negotiation between government and Jamaat.
About the two-day [Thursday and Sunday] hartal called by Jamaat, Nasim said, “The people do not support hartal. People will prevent the hartal supporters politically.”
On the other hand, the opposition party BNP, which is one of the prime allies of Jamaat, is remaining silent over the Sayedee’s verdict.
“The party will give its reactions if necessary over the verdict after getting full copy of the judgement,” BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan said yesterday.
Another Standing Committee member of BNP Lieutenant General [rtd] Mahbubur Rahman said, “We should not make any comment as the SC has just pronounced the verdict.”
