Death-row war criminal Mir Quasem transferred to Dhaka jail

Convicted war criminal Mir Quasem Ali has been moved to the Dhaka Central Jail from the prison at Gazipur’s Kashimpur.

The prison van carrying him left for Dhaka around 7am on Monday, said Kashimpur jail’s Superintendent Prashant Kumar Banik.

The senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader has been kept at the condemned cell after reaching the Dhaka jail around noon, said Dhaka Central Jail Senior Superintendent Jahangir Kabir.

Asked why he has been transferred, Kabir told bdnews24.com, “He will be kept here.”

The former Al-Badr commander was found guilty by the International Crimes Tribunal and was awarded death penalty in 2014.

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

On Sunday, he filed a petition for a review of the verdict.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, however, could not confirm whether the Supreme Court’s vacation bench will hear the matter during Ramadan.

Once the matter of review is 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.