Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on the petition of war crimes convict and Jammat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali seeking a review of his death penalty until Sunday (August 28).
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice
Surendra Kumar Sinha adjourned the proceedings after chief defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain prayed for one month to prepare for the review hearing.
Khandker Mahbub Hossain submitted short argument on the petition in the court. He said, one of their lawyers had been abducted by plain clothed personnel identifying them as law-enforcement agency members. The abducted lawyer is the son of Mir Quasem Ali, Barrister Ahmed Bin Quasem.
“All case documents were with Arman and he used to help me during the case proceedings. Now I have become helpless to proceed with this case,” claimed the chief defence counsel.
Chief Justice during the hearing said, “There was no provision for the war crimes convict to review the verdict. But on special consideration the apex court allowed for the review of the judgment. Now you are saying that some plain clothed people abducted one of your lawyers. You could discuss the matter among you. We allowed you one month time thought the prosecution gave objection.”
On November 2, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) sentenced the commander of Al-Badr capital punishment for crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War in 1971.
He challenged the verdict in March this year, but the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
The apex court released the full verdict on June 6 and sent it to the ICT, which issued the death warrant before forwarding it to the jail authority.
He filed petition for the review of the judgment on June 19. The State then moved SC to expedite the hearings and its plea to forward the appeal. The court deferred the time by a month after the defence sought time.
Once the review petition is resolved and if the death sentence is upheld, Mir Quasem will have the opportunity to seek presidential clemency.
Top Jammat-e-Islami financier Mir Quasem Ali was the president of the Chittagong town unit of erstwhile the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, till November 6, 1971. He after that became general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha. The death row war crimes convict was shifted to the Dhaka Central Jail from Kashimpur prison in Gazipur on June 20 this year.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on the petition of war crimes convict and Jammat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali seeking a review of his death penalty until Sunday (August 28).
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice
Surendra Kumar Sinha adjourned the proceedings after chief defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain prayed for one month to prepare for the review hearing.
Khandker Mahbub Hossain submitted short argument on the petition in the court. He said, one of their lawyers had been abducted by plain clothed personnel identifying them as law-enforcement agency members. The abducted lawyer is the son of Mir Quasem Ali, Barrister Ahmed Bin Quasem.
“All case documents were with Arman and he used to help me during the case proceedings. Now I have become helpless to proceed with this case,” claimed the chief defence counsel.
Chief Justice during the hearing said, “There was no provision for the war crimes convict to review the verdict. But on special consideration the apex court allowed for the review of the judgment. Now you are saying that some plain clothed people abducted one of your lawyers. You could discuss the matter among you. We allowed you one month time thought the prosecution gave objection.”
On November 2, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) sentenced the commander of Al-Badr capital punishment for crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War in 1971.
He challenged the verdict in March this year, but the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
The apex court released the full verdict on June 6 and sent it to the ICT, which issued the death warrant before forwarding it to the jail authority.
He filed petition for the review of the judgment on June 19. The State then moved SC to expedite the hearings and its plea to forward the appeal. The court deferred the time by a month after the defence sought time.
Once the review petition is resolved and if the death sentence is upheld, Mir Quasem will have the opportunity to seek presidential clemency.
Top Jammat-e-Islami financier Mir Quasem Ali was the president of the Chittagong town unit of erstwhile the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, till November 6, 1971. He after that became general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha. The death row war crimes convict was shifted to the Dhaka Central Jail from Kashimpur prison in Gazipur on June 20 this year.
