The International Crimes Tribunal on Sunday handed down death sentence to the Jamaat-e-Islami leader after finding him guilty of ordering murders, abductions, confinement and torture while leading the vigilante militia Al-Badr against Bangladesh’s Liberation struggle in Chittagong.
The city unit chief of Jamaat’s student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha later became the founding president of Islami Chhatra Shibir, when it was rechristened in 1977.
“We’re happy with this verdict, Mir Quasem has got the punishment he deserved,” said Shafiullla, who headed the Bangladesh Army after independence.
The leaders of ‘Muktujoddha Sangsad’ also said the verdict was ‘satisfying’. They were seen screaming slogans against war criminals outside court premises while the verdict was being read out.
Maj Gen (Retd) Helal Morshed Khan, chairman of the Sangsad’s Central Council, said, “We come here before every verdict so that judges don’t feel fear while handing down maximum penalties.”
“We’ve seen Razakar’s being given lesser sentences in consideration of age. We come here so that the country is freed from war criminals and the new generation can keep this spirit intact.”
Freedom fighter Nasiruddin Yusuf Bacchu talking to reporters outside the tribunal said, “Dalim Hotel, once called Mohamaya Bhaban, came to be widely known for murders and torture.”
“People were afraid to walk past it. The area used to strike massive fear.”
The charges Mir Quasem have been found guilty of describe how he ordered unarmed people to be abducted and violently tortured at Andarkilla’s Dalim Hotel along with Al-Badr’s other torture cells at Panchlaish Salma Manjil and Dowsta Mohammad Panjabee Building - a leather depot at Asadganj.
The death penalty was awarded for eight murders including that of freedom fighter ‘Jashim’ whose body Al-Badr men dumped in the Karnaphuli River.
