This file photo shows Delawar Hossain Sayedee escorted by law enforcers while appearing in court.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the two petitions filed by convicted war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee urging its two judges to voluntarily abstain from the proceedings of his appeal challenging a death penalty given to him.
Sayedee filed the petitions on Wednesday fearing that Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik may be biased in dealing with the appeals filed challenging the death penalty awarded to the Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 for his wartime offences during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
The three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order after holding hearing on the two petitions.
The reason behind the SC order could not be known immediately as the copy of the order is yet to be released.
After the court order, Sayedee’s lawyer Advocate Tajul Islam told The Daily Star that that the five-member bench of the Appellate Division including Justice Sinha and Justice Shamsuddin will now hear the appeal.
The tribunal, designed to deal with the war crimes cases, awarded Sayedee the capital punishment on February 28 for his wartime offences.
Source: The Daily Star
