‘Dismayed’ law minister wants change in prosecution

Law Minister Anisul Huq has said he is ‘dismayed’ by the verdict of war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s appeal and called for a change in the International Crimes Tribunal’s prosecution.

At a press conference at his home on Wednesday, he said, “As a citizen and a member of the cabinet I must respect any verdict and ruling of the apex court.”

“But as a person, naturally we expect the highest penalties for crimes against humanity and I am dismayed that it has not happened.”

Sayedee’s death penalty was watered down to ‘imprisonment until death’ on Wednesday by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

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“What pains me is that he was a Peace Committee member and he was acquitted for that. Those who willingly became Peace Committee members during the war were consciously working against the liberation,” he said.

Asked whether the prosecution had any weaknesses leading to the lenient verdict, he said, “I cannot blame anyone before seeing a full copy of the appeal verdict. But the prosecution team is in a bad shape and should be reformed.”

“There are some open cases in the tribunal, some verdicts are pending. I did not want to bring any change to ensure that the team did not face any problem,” he said.

“But now we will take a decision about this very soon,” he added.

There were two appeals on the Sayedee verdict, one by defence and the other by the state. The Supreme Court granted both appeals partially.

The verdict reduced Sayedee’s death sentence for Ibrahim Kutti’s murder to 12 years of imprisonment.

In its second appeal verdict in a war crimes case, the Supreme Court sentenced Sayedee to prison until death on three charges.

Asked whether the state would file a review petition against the verdict, Huq said, “We cannot say that before getting a full copy of the verdict.”

“In Quader Molla’s case, defence had petitioned for a review. The full verdict of that has not been issued yet,” he said.

Ganajagaran Mancha rejected the verdict as soon as it was announced and began protesting. They alleged that the ‘government’ had issued the verdict in ‘collusion’ with Jamaat-e-Islami.

Asked about these allegations, he said, “That is out of question. There is no scope of collusion with war criminals and Jamaat-Shibir’s terrorists.”