SC begins Mir Quasem`s appeal hearing

Staff Correspondent: The Supreme Court (SC) has started the appeal hearing of the death-row war criminal Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali.

The five-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha began the hearing around 9:00 am on Wednesday.

The other members of the bench are Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Hasan Foyez Siddique, Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mohammad Bazlur Rahman.

Earlier on Tuesday, the bench adjourned the appeal hearing filed by Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali challenging his death penalty.

On Monday, the Appellate Division bench of the Supreme Court was reformed for hearing on war trial led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

On November 2, 2014, a commander of para militia force al-Badr during the war, Mir Quasem was awarded capital punishment by the International Crimes Tribunal-2.

The tribunal handed down death penalty in two charges for killing seven people, including one Jasim Uddin, after abduction. He was awarded a total of 72-year imprisonment on other charges of abduction, conspiracy and planning. Four charges were not proved.

On November 30, 2014, Quasem Ali appealed to the Supreme Court against the death sentence.

Mir Quasem joined Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat, in 1967 while studying at Chittagong Collegiate School. He later became its Chittagong City unit general secretary.

He played an important role in forming al-Badr Bahini that orchestrated systematic killing of freedom fighters and intellectuals.

risingbd/Dhaka/Feb 10, 2016/Mahidi/A K Azad