Staff Reporter :
Only a day left for the deadline, war crimes convicts Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojaheed filed petitions with the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking review of their death penalty. Huzzatul Islam, a lawyer of BNP standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and Shishir Monir, lawyer of Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojaheed, said that they, on behalf of their clients, filed the review pleas with the Appellate Division in the morning.
As per rules, the death row convicts had chance to file review pleas within 15 days from the publication of the full verdicts. October 15 is the deadline for filing review petition, as the Supreme Court on September 30 released the full verdicts that upheld the death penalty of Salauddin Quader and Mojaheed, leaving them with the option of seeking review of the verdicts.
The International Crimes Tribunal, where the two leaders were tried for their crimes during the Liberation War in 1971, issued death warrant against the duo on October 1.
The chamber judge of the Supreme Court will now fix a date for hearing the review petitions in the full bench of the Appellate Division. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said that the chamber judge would sit on next Tuesday to fix the date when the applications will be heard.
He, however, said that his office would file an application to the Supreme Court praying for early hearing of the review petition.
The court may hear the review petitions after it reopens on November 1, as the apex court is now on vacation. However, the court could hold the hearing during vacation if it wishes. If the review petitions are disposed and the death sentences are upheld, the two convicts will have the opportunity to seek mercy from the President, admitting their crimes.
The lawyers of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojaheed said that the two leaders couldn’t be executed until the review petitions are disposed by the apex court. They, however, hoped of acquittal of all the charges brought against the two convicts.
Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and principal counsel of the two convicts, said that his clients have been convicted on the basis of false and fabricated statements of prosecution witnesses. If the statements are properly examined, their death penalty will not be upheld. He also said that the death penalty, as a sentence, is not acceptable in the world now.
Mahbubey Alam, however, hoped that the death sentence of the two convicts would remain upheld in the review. The scope for review of the SC judgment in any criminal case is very thin, he added.
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury is now in the Kashimpur Jail, while and Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojaheed is in Dhaka Central Jail.
Shisir Monir along with four other lawyers met Mojaheed at the jail on Tuesday and discussed with him the review petition. Quoting Mojaheed, he said that his client hoped that the SC would consider his review petition, and therefore, he would get acquitted of the charges brought against him.
The lawyer sought review of the Mojaheed’s verdict based on two main points. “One point is the Investigation Officer of the case said that he didn’t find the name of Mojaheed on any committee list of Al Badar. So, how he could be the Al Badar Commander? Another point is Mojaheed was a 23-year old student during the Liberation War in 1971. So, how was he made commander of a paramilitary force?” Shisir Monir said that they mentioned 32 grounds in the 38-page petition for consideration of Mojaheed’s prayer.
The Supreme Court on June 16 this year upheld the death sentence for Mojaheed, which was awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 in July in 2013.
Salauddin Quader’s lawyers filed a 108-page petition seeking review of the Supreme Court verdict that upheld his death for war crimes and genocide in 1971. On July 29 this year, the apex court upheld the International Crimes Tribunal-1 verdict that sentenced Salauddin to death for his war-time crimes.
