Full verdict on Quader Mollah published

Staff Correspondent: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) has published its full verdict on executed war criminal Abdul Quader Molla`s review petition.

A five-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain published the verdict copy on Tuesday.

Jamaat assistant-secretary Quader Mollah was sentenced to life imprisonment for wartime crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on February 5, 2013.

The prosecution and the defence both filed appeals against the verdict seeking his capital punishment and acquittal respectively.

As the prosecution was unable to file appeal against any inadequate punishment except acquittal, the government amended the section 21 of the ICT Act allowing such appeal.

Justice Md Wahhab Miah, in his dissenting verdict, sentenced Mollah to life imprisonment.

The judge was convinced of involvement of the accused in crimes against humanity but he differed about the idea of awarding death sentence merely on the basis of deposition adduced by one eyewitness.

The charge of killing tailor Hazrat Ali, his pregnant wife and daughters at Mohammadpur in the capital was considered as the base for awarding capital punishment to Mollah.

Only surviving daughter of the ill-fated couple, Momena Begum, submitted a heartrending evidence in the International Crimes Tribunal narrating how Quader Mollah along with his accomplices killer her parents and sisters.

Momena said she managed to hide himself after being raped in a critically injured condition and one neighbour rescued her and later sent her to father-in-law’s house.

On September 17, 2013, a 790-page verdict justified death sentence awarded to Mollah saying gravity of the offence deserves no punishment less than capital punishment.

risingbd/Nov 25, 2014/Mehadi/Aminul