8 war crimes convicts await final verdicts

Staff Correspondent: Eight more appeals of war crime convicts against their death sentences and life imprisonments for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, are awaiting at the Appellate Division (AD) of the Supreme Court (SC) for final verdicts.

The convicts who are waiting for appeal hearing are: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Jamaat central executive committee member Mir Quasem Ali, Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam, Nayeb-e-Ameer Abdus Subhan, Brahmanbaria Awami League leader Mobarrak Hossain, Jatiya Party leader Syed Mohammad Quasar, fugitive Engineer Abdul Jobbar of Pirojpur and Md Mohidur Rahman of Chapainawabganj.

It is known that the hearings of the appeals of Motiur Rahman Nizami and Mir Quasem Ali will be started first among the awaiting eight as per the sequence.  

Earlier on July 29, the AD of the SC upheld the death sentence against BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. The SC also upheld the death sentence against Jamaat`s secretary general Ali- Ahsan Mujahid on June 16.

Verdicts against 20 persons in 18 cases of crimes against humanity have been delivered in both the tribunals. In the last and 18th verdict, the tribunal sentenced Chapainawabganj Razakars Mahidur Rahman and Afsar Uddin Chutu to imprisonment till death.

Two Jamaat leaders Abdul Kader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman have so far been hanged for their crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971.

The first tribunal was formed on March 25, 2010, in line with Awami League election manifesto. Sheikh Hasina`s government set up International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to bring those into justice, who played a barbaric role during "our great War of Liberation", siding with the Pakistani occupation forces.

Two years after formation of the first tribunal, the government on March 22, 2012, established another tribunal namely International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2. Both the tribunals under the ICTA (1973) are in operation under the same jurisdiction mentioned in section 3 of the ICTA (1973). The ICT-1 and the ICT-2 have separate rules of procedures.

The ICT-1 pronounced its first judgment on February 28, 2013, sentencing Jamaat`s Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death. His sentence was later changed by the Appellate Division to imprisonment till death. Jamaat`s leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death by the ICT-2 on May 9, 2013.

Former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam was sentenced to 90-year imprisonment by the ICT-1 on July 15, 2013. Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid was sentenced to death on July 17, 2013. BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was condemned to death on October 1, 2013.

Former BNP leader Abdul Alim was sentenced to imprisonment till death on October 1, 2013. Chowdhury Moinuddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan got death sentence on November 3, 2013.

Jamaat`s incumbent Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami was awarded to death penalty on October 29, 2014. The party`s central leader Mir Quasem Ali was sentenced to death on November 2, 2014.

BNP leader Zahid Hossain Khokon from Nagarkanda, Faridpur, was sentenced to death on November 11, 2014. Former Jamaat man from Brahmanbaria Mobarak Hossain was also sentenced to death on November 24, 2014.

risingbd/Aug 01, 2015/Mehadi/Aminul