State begins making argument against war crimes convict Mujaheed’s death sentence appeal

The state has started presenting its argument against death-row war crimes convict Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed’s appeal after the defence completed theirs.

Court CorrespondentSupreme bdnews24.com
Published : 26 May 2015, 05:33 PM
Updated : 26 May 2015, 05:43 PM

The four-strong bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, heard the argument of the state lawyers on the eighth day of hearing on Tuesday.

The court will resume on Wednesday.

Justices Nazmun Ara Sultana, Syed Mahmud Hossain and Hasan Foez Siddique were the other members of the bench.

Khandker Mahbub Hossain and SM Shajahan were the defence lawyers at the hearing, and they were assisted by Shishir Monir.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam argued for the state.

After the hearing, Alam told reporters that he presented argument, supporting the first and third charges against the Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general.

“We’ll argue on the other charges on Wednesday,” he said and hoped that his argument would end on Wednesday.

Khandker Mahbub said he told the court that his client could not be punished based on the deposition of the witnesses.

“Moreover, the seventh charge was not included in the formal charges brought against him. The tribunal did not take the charge into cognisance.”

Attorney General Alam said the first charge was pertaining to abduction of journalist Sirajuddin Hossain.

“The defence argued that one Khalil had been sentenced for the murder of Sirajuddin Hossain, so another accused cannot be punished for the same crime,” he said.

“But I’ve said that the charge (brought against Mujaheed) was of abduction,” he added.

Alam said he also argued for punishment of Mujaheed based on a report published in daily Sangram that quoted Mujaheed.

According to the report, Alam said, Mujaheed on Nov 24, 1971 made derogatory remarks on Sirajuddin Hossain.

“He (Mujaheed) said that (they) would have to be defended.

“Especially, the death threat he gave to Bengali intellectuals led to the abduction of Sirajuddin Hossain and other intellectuals and their killings,” Alam said.

“My point is that he (Mujaheed) has been punished for abduction,” he said.

“But before this,” he added, “The then leaders of Al-Badr and (Islami) Chhatra Sangha created the ground for his (Sirajuddin Hossain) abduction.

“As the then president of Chhatra Sangha, Mujaheed was responsible for those acts. Though the tribunal did not punish him separately for this, it rightly found him guilty for this,” the attorney general said.

Al-Badr was a force formed to collaborate with the Pakistani army during the Liberation War while Chhatra Sangha was the student front of Jamaat, the party that openly opposed Bangladesh’s independence.

According to Alam, the third charge against Mujaheed was of torturing one Ranjit Nath.

“The defence argued that an army officer ordered to take him (Nath) while Mujaheed was only present there but did not torture him,” he said.

“I argued that the group consisting of the army officer, Mujaheed and others, ordered to pick him up.

Usko le jao (take him away) – the order was something like this (in Urdu). He was taken away and tortured following the order,” Alam said.

“So, this torture cannot be seen as a different issue. He was taken away and tortured following the order. This (torture order) is also a crime against humanity,” the attorney general said.

The second International Crimes Tribunal on July 17, 2013 sentenced the Jamaat leader to death after finding him guilty of five of the seven war crime charges levelled against him.

The former Al-Badr commander challenged the verdict in the Appellate Division on Aug 11, 2013.

The hearing on the appeal started on Apr 29 this year.