The Appellate Division has released its full verdict that upheld death sentence for Jamaat-e-Islami leader and former al-Badr commander Mir Quasem Ali for war crimes. Personal Secretary to the Chief Justice Md Anisur Rahman told bdnews24.com that the 244-page verdict has been published after the judges signed it on Monday. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in November 2014 had sentenced him to death for atrocities against Bengalis committed during the War of Independence from Pakistan in 1971. Mir Quasem had challenged the verdict and in March this year the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty awarded to him. The Supreme Court will now send the copy of the full verdict to the ICT, which subsequently will issue the death warrant. After the warrant reaches him, Mir Quasem will have 15 days, starting from the day of the verdict’s publication, to file a petition to have the judgment reviewed. Once the review petition is resolved and if the death sentence is upheld, the war crimes convict will have the opportunity to seek mercy from the president and meet family members. If the Jamaat leader declines to seek a review or if he is denied pardon, the government then will order the jail authorities to hang him. Mir Quasem was the al-Badr’s third most important functionary after Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid. Bangladesh has executed both Nizami and Mujahid for 1971 war crimes. Mir Quasem, the wartime terror of Chittagong had gradually left mark of his shrewdness in both politics and business. The 63-year old media tycoon pumped billions into the Jamaat since the mid-1980s to put it on a firm financial footing in Bangladesh. –bdnews24.com
