Staff Reporter :The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for BNP’s senior leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha pronounced the judgment. The other judges are Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique. The grounds of the judgment could not be known since the full text was not released yet. The apex court delivered the judgment on the appeal filed by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, challenging his death penalty awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. It is the fifth verdict by the apex court on appeal against the ICT verdict in the cases over crimes against humanity. However, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury is the first BNP leader to be walking the gallows.The appeal verdict is mostly unchanged from that pronounced by the ICT-1 two years ago except a complaint. The SC acquitted 66-year old Salauddin Quader Chowdhury of murdering Satish Chandra Palit- the charge for which he was given 20 years in prison.Law enforcers arrested the BNP leader on December 16 in 2010 from the capital city in connection with torching a car. He was shown arrested on December 19 following a warrant issued by the tribunal.On October 1 in 2013, the tribunal awarded the death penalty against the-then BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for nine of the 23 charges brought against him. The tribunal handed him death penalty on four charges, 20 years in jail for three charges and five years in jail for two other charges.On October 29 that year, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury submitted appeal against the verdict and sought acquittal on all the charges. Closing the arguments on the appeal, the SC bench on July 7 this year fixed July 29 for delivering the judgment. Now the defence will get the chance to file review petition within 15 days from the publication of the full verdict.The state counsel expressed satisfaction over the verdict, while the defence counsel said that they would file review against the verdict. Expressing satisfaction, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said that the verdict is expected one. “We are waiting for the full judgment of the apex court,” he said. Tureen Afroz, a prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, said that no one is above the law that has been proved in the Supreme Court’s judgment. “The judgment also proves that a lawmaker can be punished if he turns into a lawbreaker,” she said.On the other hand, Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the chief counsel for Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, said that they would move for review. “We hoped that the death penalty would be done away with when the review takes place,” he said. Khandker Mahbub said, “You know that Saluddin Quader Chowdhury was elected from his constituency a number of times since 1979, the area where he reportedly participated during Pakistani atrocities. The person who could barbarically treat people of his area in connivance of the Pakistani army, kill them, how could that person be repeatedly elected to the Parliament from there?”The senior lawyer said that the family members of his client are dissatisfied with the verdict. “The family said that the prosecution brought the case against him with a political agenda,” he said quoting the family members.
