G, chief defence counsel differ on legality of govt appeal
This file photo shows Abdul Quader Mollah being taken to tribunal which is trying the Jamaat-e-Islami leader for offences he committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.
The hearing on both the appeals filed over the sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Quader Mollah for war crimes is likely to end Tuesday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has said.
Mollah, assistant secretary general of Jamaat which was instrumental against the birth of Bangladesh during the 1971 War of Independence, was handed life tem imprisonment on February 5.
On March 3, the government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, seeking death penalty for Mollah.
The convict, on the other hand, filed a separate appeal with the same court the following day, seeking acquittal.
While talking to reporters at his office Monday, the attorney general ruled out a defence claim that the government appeal seeking death penalty for Mollah is not acceptable since the government brought an amendment to the law that allowed such appeal only after the conviction of Mollah.
“There is no legal bar to maintain the government appeal as the amendment has been brought to the International Crime Tribunal with effective from July 14, 2012,” he said.
Meanwhile, chief defence counsel Barrister Abdur Razzaq again termed the government appeal as acceptable.
Customary international laws should be applicable in holding the trial, he said while speaking at a press conference at his office on completion of his argument in the Mollah’s appeal.
The government amended the ICT act on February 18 clearing its way for filing appeal with the SC against the tribunal’s inadequate sentencing of a convict.
On June 20, the Supreme Court appointed seven senior lawyers as amicus curiae (friend of court) for legal opinions on whether the government’s appeal seeking death penalty for Mollah for his crimes against humanity is tenable or not.
Source: The Daily Star
