Staff Reporter :
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of former Jatiya Party leader Syed Mohammad Qaisar for his role against humanity and involvement in war crimes during the Liberation War of the country in 1971.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain delivered the judgement allowing his appeal in part.
The apex court upheld death sentence in three charges out of seven in which the tribunal gave capital punishment to him.
The three charges that brought him to death in apex court are participation in killing of 108 civilians in 22 villages of Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria; in killing of seven government staff of a food warehouse in Habiganj; and involvement in rape of a woman at Jagadishpur village of Habiganj. In the judgement delivered on December 23, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 awarded death penalty to Qaisar on seven charges. The court also sentenced him to imprisonment till death on four charges and various terms in three other charges.
Qaisar, who was a Muslim League leader in 1971, was found guilty on 14 of the 16 charges brought against him.
The tribunal found him not guilty on two other charges as the prosecution failed to prove his involvement in two murders. All the sentences will merge into a single sentence of death, said the tribunal.
Later, Qaisar filed an appeal with the Appellate Division seeking acquittal of the charges in which he has been convicted and sentenced.
In its verdict, the apex court upheld death sentence on three charges, commuted death sentence to imprisonment to death on three charges and acquitted him from one of the death sentences given by the tribunal.
The appellate division also upheld imprisonment to death on three charges out of four given by the tribunal and acquitted him in one charge.
The apex court also upheld his sentence given by the tribunal in two other charges for various terms and acquitted him from two charges in which the tribunal sentenced him for various terms.
Now, the convicted JP leader can file a petition with the Supreme Court seeking review of its judgment. The review petition will have to be filed after the convict would receive the certified copy of the judgment.
Qaisar’s counsel SM Shahjahan said, “We will seek review of the judgement after getting the written copy of the full text.”
If the SC rejects the review petition, Qaisar can seek president’s clemency. If the President does not grant the mercy petition, then the verdict of the death sentence will be executed.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on February 2, 2014 indicted Qaisar, a former State Minister of the HM Ershad regime, on 16 charges of crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria during the country’s Liberation War. The ICT-2 on December 23, 2014 awarded death penalty to Qaisar in seven charges.
Towards the end of the Liberation War, Qaisar fled the country. Following the 1975 political changeover, he returned to Bangladesh in 1978. He contested the 1979 parliamentary polls as an independent candidate and became a lawmaker.
Qaisar later joined the BNP and became President of its Habiganj unit. In 1982, he was made joint secretary general of BNP. He then joined Jatiya Party and was elected a lawmaker from Habiganj-4 in 1986 and 1988.
