Staff Reporter :
A day left for deadline, war crime convicts Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mojaheed are going to file petitions with the Supreme Court today (Wednesday) seeking review of their death penalty.
“We have already prepared the review petitions on behalf of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed. The petitions will be filed on Wednesday (today),” said Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, principal counsel for both the convicts.
Khandker Mahbub, also President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, 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 said, adding that the death penalty, as a sentence is not acceptable in the world now.
As per rules, the death-row convicts will have a chance to file review petitions within 15 days from the publication of the full verdict.
The Supreme Court on September 30 released its full verdicts that upheld the death penalty of BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammed 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 of 1971, issued death warrant against the duo on October 1.
The Supreme Court is likely to hear the review petitions after it reopens on November 1, as there is no urgency to hear those during the vacation, said a lawyer. He, however, said that the apex court could hold the hearing during vacation if it wishes. If the review petitions are disposed of and their death sentences are upheld, the convicts will have the opportunity to seek mercy from the President, admitting the crimes.
Meanwhile, five lawyers met Mojaheed at the Dhaka Central Jail on Tuesday afternoon to consult about filing his review petition. After coming out from the jail, Shishir Monir, who led the lawyers, told media that they had talked to Mojaheed and decided to place a review plea to Appellate Division on Wednesday morning. Mojaheed hoped that the SC will consider his review petition, and therefore, he will get acquitted of the charges brought against him, as he was not involved in any crimes, the lawyer said quoting his client.
Shishir Monir also said that Mojaheed has told the lawyers that the prosecution could not place any documents before the courts in support of their claim that he was a commander of Al Badr force that is responsible for killing intellectuals in 1971. Mojaheed was only 23-year-old and a student in 1971 and how he could become a commander of such a paramilitary force like Al Badr, he said.
The lawyer also said there was no mention of Mojaheed’s name in the lists of Al Badr submitted by the investigation officer to the court. Shishir Monir informed that they would mention these points in the review petition.
