The government on Wednesday appointed former judge Syed Amirul Islam as the state counsel to conduct the war crimes tribunal cases at the Appellate Division.
Islam joined the High Court as a judge on Feb 7, 1994 and retired in 2007. He has been into the legal profession since then at the Appellate Division.
The law ministry chose him to conduct the war crimes cases at the Appellate Division on behalf of the state.
In 2010, the Awami League-led government formed the first International Crimes Tribunal to try the suspected war criminals who had tried to thwart the nation’s struggle for freedom in 1971. A second tribunal was formed two years later to expedite the trial process.
So far the tribunals have delivered three verdicts.
Of them, both the prosecution and the defence have appealed against the life term of Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla. The Appellate Division, headed by the Chief Justice, has fixed Mar 31 as the next hearing date.
On Feb 28, the tribunal sentenced another Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee to death. His lawyers have said they would appeal against the verdict.
