Mir Quasem appeal hearing excluding chief justice?

Food Minister Qamrul Islam has demanded that a new bench, excluding Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, hear the appeal of condemned war criminal Mir Quasem Ali.

He made the demand at a discussion in Dhaka on Saturday, arranged by the Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, a platform that demands trials of war criminals. His demand comes two days before the verdict in the appeal of this Jamaat-e-Islami leader is scheduled to be announced.

“Through a comment of the chief justice in a court, we have realised what verdict will be delivered in the case. We have realised that there is no scope for awarding the death penalty [to the convict],” Qamrul said.

Quasem, known as the financial backbone of the Jamaat, was earlier sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal for his 1971 crimes.

Mir Quasem Ali

The food minister said, “What did the chief justice say in court? The prosecution is doing politics with the case. The chief justice is speaking along the same lines as the BNP, Jamaat and their lobbyists are doing.”

“In reality, he has brought allegations against the state and the government. Not only that, his statement has questioned the trials by the tribunal over the past five years.

“I think there should be a fresh hearing of the appeal before a bench, but excluding the chief justice,” he added.

Also present at the programme, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said there should be a law with a provision for confiscating the properties of war criminals.

Daily Sangbad Editor Khandaker Muniruzzaman, Liberation War Museum Trustee Mufidul Haque, and Shahriar Kabir, Muntassir Mamun, Shyamoli Nasrin Chowdhury and Ferdousi Priyobhashini of Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, too, spoke at the discussion.