Death-row war crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali to seek review of top court verdict

Convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali will file a petition for reviewing the Supreme Court’s verdict upholding his death sentence.

Mir Quasem's lawyers met him at Gazipur’s Kashimpur prison on Saturday.

“He has told us to initiate the process of a plea seeking a review of the verdict,” counsel Matiur Rahman Akan told the media at the jail.

He said that they filed an application to the Supreme Court’s registrar for a certified copy of the verdict.

Jail authorities said five lawyers, including Mir Quasem’s son entered the prison around 11:45am.

They left after 40 minutes, said Prison Superintendent Prashant Kumar Banik.

On Jun 6, the top court released the full verdict and sent it to the International Crimes Tribunal, which then issued the death warrant before forwarding it to the jail authorities.

Mir Quasem now has 15 days, starting from the day of the verdict’s publication, to file a review petition.

Once it’s resolved and if the death sentence is upheld, the war crimes convict will have the opportunity to seek a presidential clemency.

If the Jamaat leader is denied pardon, the government then will order the jail authorities to hang him.

Mir Quasem was the Al-Badr’s third most important functionary after Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

Bangladesh has executed both Nizami and Mujahid for 1971 war crimes.

Mir Quasem, a terror during 1971 in Chittagong, has proved to be a shrewd businessman and politician.

The 63-year old media tycoon pumped billions into the Jamaat since the mid-1980s to put it on a firm financial footing in Bangladesh.

Police arrested him on Jun 17, 2012 from the office of 'Naya Diganta' newspaper  less than two hours after the tribunal had issued a warrant for his arrest.

In 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal found him guilty and awarded the death penalty.

He challenged the verdict and in March this year, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

The 244-page full verdict was released on June 6, when the tribunal issued the warrant and sent it to the Dhaka Central Jail authorities, which was read out to Mir Quasem the next day.