Family meets war criminal Mir Quasem before execution

Family members have met Mir Quasem Ali one last time at the Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur.

The senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader is all set to hang for his crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

Six cars carrying 45 family members, including Mir Quasem's wife, daughters, daughters-in-laws and other relatives arrived at the prison around 3:30pm.

Authorities allowed 38 relatives to meet him, Jailor Nashir Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

They left almost three hours later around 6:30pm.

The prison authorities have received the executive order to carry out the death sentence.

Asked when the execution might take place, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told bdnews24.com, "Wait and see."

After losing his review appeal in the top court, the only option left for Mir Quasem was to seek presidential clemency.

But he decided against it.

On Friday, the prison authorities said Mir Quasem refused to seek mercy, after which the family was asked on Saturday to meet him one last time.

Mir Quasem Ali

The International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Jamaat executive council member Mir Quasem to death in 2014 for war crimes.

He filed a petition for a review of the appeals verdict that upheld the sentence in March this year.

The Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed the review petition last Tuesday, clearing all legal obstacles for hanging Mir Quasem.

Mir Quasem, founding president of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, is a member of Jamaat's policymaking Central Executive Council.

He is the sixth war criminal to see the verdict at its execution level and the fifth top Jamaat leader whose death sentence for war crimes has been upheld in the final verdict.

Jamaat’s assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla was the first to be hanged for 1971 war crimes on Dec 12, 2013.

Another assistant secretary general of the party, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, was executed on Apr 11, 2015.

The jail authorities executed the death sentences of Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and BNP Standing Committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury on Nov 21 last year.

Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was the last to hang on May 11 this year.