The Supreme Court on Wednesday released the full verdicts awarding death penalty to Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for their crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, clearing the way for execution of the judgments.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the process for the execution of the verdicts will start once the full verdict reached the jail authorities. The jail authorities will take all preparations to execute the two condemned convicts, he said.
However, the execution may be deferred if the convicts file review petition. They will get 15 days for submitting review petitions, he said. Registrar General of the Supreme Court Syed Aminul Islam said copies of the full verdicts were
scheduled to be sent to the International Crimes Tribunal by Wednesday.
Earlier, the Supreme Court on June 16 upheld the death sentence awarded by the ICT-2 to war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojaheed for killing intellectuals during the Liberation War in 1971.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, delivered the short order of the verdict.
The Appellate Division upheld the tribunal order sentencing the Jamaat leader to death for provoking and assisting Al Badr to kill the intellectuals after confining them to Teacher’s Training Institute in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, the court commuted the death penalty of the Jamaat secretary general to life imprisonment for murder and torture of minority community Hindus at 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 acquitted the Jamaat leader of the charge of abducting and killing noted journalist of the daily Ittefaq Sirajuddin Hossain during the war.
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 Badr boss guilty of five, out of seven, charges.
The charges included the murder of intellectuals, genocide, abduction and persecution. Mojaheed was acquitted of the first charge as the tribunal had earlier sentenced him to death for assisting in the killing of martyred journalist Sirajuddin.
Besides, the tribunal had sentenced Mojaheed to death for genocide and torturing brutally the Hindu community of Bakchar village in Faridpur district but the Appellate Division sentenced him to life imprisonment on that charge.
Meanwhile, the Appellate Division upheld the tribunal order sentencing the Jamaat leader to life imprisonment for killing some intellectuals, including Altaf Mahmud, a renowned composer, after torturing them at old MP Hostel in Nakhalpara in the city.
On August 11, 2013, condemned convict Mojaheed filed an appeal with the Appellate Division against his capital punishment awarded by the ICT-2. Mojaheed was arrested on charge of hurting religious sentiment on June 29, 2010 and later he was shown arrested in a case filed for committing crimes against humanity on August 2. On July 29, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) that had condemned BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to death for committing crimes against humanity, including rape and mass killing, during the Liberation War, 43 years ago.
The Appellate Division upheld the punishments in eight of the nine charges for which Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was found guilty by the ICT-1 that include capital punishment in No 3, 5, 6 and 9 charges.
However, the Appellate Division acquitted him of the charges No 7 charge against him for which he as sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.
On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 found the BNP leader guilty of crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation and condemned him to death. On October 29 of the same year, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the ICT verdict.
The tribunal found Salauddin Quader, the son of Pakistan Convention Muslim League president Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, guilty of the crimes of genocide at Rauzan and murder of minority Hindu community members, including Nutan Chandra Singh, the founder of Kundeshwari Owsadhalay of Gohira, Awami League leaders and supporters of Bangladesh’s war of independence.
The tribunal also found him guilty of the charge of torture on the accused carried out on captives at his ancestral house ‘Good Hills’ in the port city of Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War.
