Commuting his death sentence earlier handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal-1, the Supreme Court on Wednesday jailed Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee unto death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, flanked by four other members of the five-member Appellate Division bench of the Supreme Court, pronounced the final judgment in the crowded courtroom at 10.06 am. The long-pending judgment was pronounced amid tight security in and around the court. The four other members of the bench are Justices Surendra Kumar Sinha, Md A Wahhab Miah, Hasan Foez Siddique and AHM Shsmsuddin Choudhury. The Apex Court handed down its verdict after keeping its order pending for long 153 days. On April 16, the Appellate Division had kept its verdict pending to be delivered any day after closing arguments on the appeals against the International Crimes Tribunal-1 verdict, exhausting 49 working days that began on September 24 last year. The condemned convict war criminal Jamaat leader sought acquittal while the prosecution prayed for Sayedee’s capital punishment in other six charges where he was found guilty. 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. Sayedee was sentenced to death in two of the charges even though found guilty beyond reasonable doubt in eight others. He was sentenced to death for the abduction, torture and murder of Ibrahim Kutti and the killing of Bisha Bali in Pirojpur during the Liberation War. Sayedee was found guilty of murder, abduction, confinement, torture, rape, persecution, looting, forceful religious conversions and setting homes ablaze in rural areas of the southern district during the war. — UNB, Dhaka.
