Death for war crimes: Quasem loses legal battle

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Mir Quasem Ali’s petition seeking review of its verdict upholding his death sentence for war crimes.
Rejection of his review petition by a five-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice SK Sinha paved the way for the execution of 63-year old Jamaat leader Mir Quasem.
The other judges in the apex court’s bench were Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mohammad Bazlur Rahman.
As a notorious Al-Badr commander in 1971, Mir Quasem committed various war crimes in the port city of Chittagong and particularly at a torture cell he ran in the Dalim Hotel.
He was sentenced to death for abducting and killing teenage freedom fighter Jasim Uddin in confinement at Dalim Hotel based torture cell and dumping his body in the Karnaphuli River.
In recent years he emerged as a business and media tycoon and ran business establishments of Jamaat.
Copies of the 29-page verdict of the apex court had been sent to the International Crimes Tribunal-1 and the office of Dhaka district magistrate, Supreme Court Registrar general Syed Aminul Islam said.
On receipt of the verdict’s copy at 6.15 PM Tuesday, ICT-1 officials said that they immediately forwarded it to the Dhaka Central Jail.
Dhaka Central Jail received the copy of the apex court’s verdict at 9.05 PM and immediately sent it to the Kashimpur Central Jail Part 2, said Dhaka Central Jail senior superintendent Md Jahangir Kabir.
War crimes death row inmate Mir Quasem is housed in a condemned cell of the Kashimpur Central Jail Part- 2.
Kashimpur Jail’s superintendent Prosanta Kumar Bonik told New Age at 10 PM Tuesday that the verdict copy was on its way to Kashimpur.
Mir Quasem would get ‘reasonable time’ to seek mercy from the president, law minister Anisul Huq told New Age.
The government is now free to execute the death sentence of war crimes convict Mir Quasem, attorney general Mahbubey Alam told reporters.
Mir Quasem’ lawyer Khandker Mahbub said that Mir Quasem’s death sentence had been ‘obtained on the basis of false allegation and false evidence’ presented by the prosecution.
On March 8, the same bench of the Appellate Division had rejected Mir Quasem’s appeal against his death sentence handed by the ICT-2 on November 2, 2014 finding him guilty of abducting, torturing and murdering teenage freedom fighter Jasim Uddin at Al-Badr’s torture centre at Dalim Hotel.
The apex court upheld Mir Quasem’s death sentence only for Jasim’s murder.
It set aside Mir Quasem’s death sentence on the charge of abducting and torturing five persons and killing two of them, Tuntu Sen and Ranjit Das Latu, at Dalim Hotel and their houses were set on fire in November 1971.
The apex court upheld six sentences handed to Mir Quasem by the ICT-2 each for 20-year jail for abducting and torturing freedom fighters and pro independence people in confinement.
The apex court set aside two other sentences involving jail for various terms handed to Mir Quasem by the ICT-2.
Until now, 24 war offenders have been sentenced to death and 18 others to jail of various terms.
Mir Quasem would be the sixth top war criminal to die.
Appeals of only two more top war criminals ATM Azharul Islam and Abdus Sobhan, both Jamaat leaders, await disposal by the apex court.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net