Deadline for Mir Quasem appeal summary extended by four weeks

The Appellate Division has given another four weeks to the defence counsels of death row war criminal Mir Quasem Ali to submit summary of their appeal in the war crimes case against him.

A four strong bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha gave the order on Thursday after hearing a defence plea seeking more time. The state will have the same amount of time to submit summary of their arguments.

The other members of the bench are justices Nazmun Ara Sultana, Syed Mahmud Hossain and Hasan Foez Siddique.

Mir Quasem's defence counsel Shishir Monir, told bdnews24.com, “The court said if the appeal summaries are not submitted within four weeks , the court will take it that both sides are ready for hearing.”

The defence plea followed expiry of a previous deadline on May 20 given by the top appeals court to submit appeal summaries.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced the Jamaat-e-Islami leader and former Chittagong Al-Badr commander to death on Nov 2. He pleaded on Nov 30 seeking exoneration after pleading not guilty.

Jamaat’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir’s founding president Quasem Ali was sentenced to death for the killing eight persons, including teenage freedom fighter Jasim Uddin Ahmed.

He was given a total  72 years in prison on eight other charges.

The ICT said that Mir Quasem Ali was the central commander of Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams forces formed to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation and so he was directly linked to crimes against humanity during the war.

After 1975, BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman gave Jamaat-e-Islami legitimacy and political space in Bangladesh.

Mir Quasem became the founding president of Islamic Chatra Shibir, the Jamaat's student front, on Feb 6, 1977.

The ICT described as ‘death factory’ the Dalim Hotel, the centre of Mir Quasem’s operations during the war.

The Jamaat leader was arrested on Jun 17, 2012. The trial started by way of his indictment  on Sep 5 2013.

The much-awaited trial of suspected war criminals started after the formation of war crimes tribunal on Mar 25, 2010 after Awami League returned to power.

The second ICT was launched on Mar 22, 2012 to expedite the trials.

The two tribunals have given verdicts on 17 cases in five years. Of them, 14 were challenged in higher court.

The Appellate Division has given final verdicts on three appeals.

Jamaat assistant secretaries general Abdul Quader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman have already been executed.

In the other case, the Appellate Division commuted Jamaat’s second man Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s death sentence to life-term imprisonment.

The review of Sayedee’s appeal is yet to be disposed of as the full verdict has not been published.

Former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam and former BNP minister Abdul Alim’s appeals were dismissed following their deaths.