Supreme Court releases full verdict on Mir Quasem Ali’s death sentence for 1971 war crimes

The Appellate Division has released its full verdict that upheld death sentence for Jamaat-e-Islami leader and former Al-Badr commander Mir Quasem Ali for war crimes.

Personal Secretary to the Chief Justice Md Anisur Rahman told bdnews24.com that the 244-page verdict has been published after the judges signed it on Monday.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in November 2014 had sentenced him to death for atrocities against Bengalis committed during the War of Independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Mir Quasem had challenged the verdict the same year and in March 2016, the apex court upheld the death penalty awarded to him.

The Supreme Court will now send the copy of the full verdict to the ICT, which will then issue the death warrant.

After the warrant reaches him, Mir Quasem will have 15 days, starting from the day of the verdict’s publication, to file a petition for review of the judgment.

Once the review petition is resolved and if the death sentence is upheld, the war crimes convict will have the opportunity to seek mercy from the president .

If the Jamaat leader declines to seek a review or if he 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.

On Mar 8 this year, the five-strong appeals bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdict confirming death for Mir Quasem.

The four other members of the bench were Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mohammad Bazlur Rahman.

The tribunal sentenced Mir Quasem to death for the killing of young freedom fighter Jashim Uddin Ahmed and eight others, and to 72 years in prison for the acts of abduction and torture.

The apex court upheld the punishment on eight counts, acquitted him on one, and changed the penalty in another.

Mir Quasem, founding president of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, has been a member of the Jamaat's central executive council and the organisation’s fifth most important leader.

The tribunal in the verdict had described Dalim Hotel in Chittagong, where pro-liberation people were tortured and killed under his leadership, as the ‘death factory'.

It had observed that Al-Badr members and Pakistani troops would take freedom fighters to Dalim Hotel to torture them until they were dead.

Apart from Dalim Hotel, the Al-Badr, under his leadership, had set up camps for torture and killings at Dowsta Mohammad Panjabee Building - a leather depot at Asadganj, Dewan Hotel in Dewanhat area and Salma Manjil at Panchlaish.

Police arrested Mir Quasem on Jun 17, 2013, in the offices of newspaper Naya Diganta less than two hours after the tribunal had issued a warrant for his arrest.

He was indicted on Sep 5, 2014 and found guilty in November the same year.