War crimes death row inmate Mir Quasem Ali has wanted more time to decide on seeking mercy from the president.
The superintendent of Kashimpur Central Jail part 2, Prashanta Kumar Bonik, on Thursday said Mir Quasem wanted more time to think about it as he was asked again over the matter this morning.
Also on Wednesday, Quasem sought time to think whether he will seek presidential clemency or not.
Meanwhile, inspector general of prisons Syed Iftekhar Uddin said the war crimes death row inmate would get ‘reasonable time’ not exceeding ‘seven days’ to seek mercy from the president.
Mir Quasem’s wife Khandker Ayesha Khatun and eight other family members met her husband in Kashimpur jail on Wednesday afternoon.
She told reporters quoting her husband as saying that he would not be able to take any decision until their son Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, a Supreme Court lawyer, picked up by plain-clothes men from his residence in broad daylight 22 days back, was returned.
She said that Mir Quasem was unable to take any decision without consulting with Mir Ahmed, his lawyer.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Mir Quasem Ali’s petition seeking review of its verdict upholding his death sentence for war crimes.
Rejection of his review petition by a five-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice SK Sinha paved the way for Mir Quasem’s execution.
Copies of the review verdict had been sent to the International Crimes Tribunal-1 and the office of Dhaka district magistrate.
On receipt of the verdict’s copy around 12:50am on Wednesday, the Kashimpur jail authorities read out it to Mir Quasem in the morning.
As a notorious Al-Badr commander in 1971, Mir Quasem committed various war crimes in the port city of Chittagong and particularly at a torture cell he ran in the Dalim Hotel.
He was sentenced to death for abducting and killing teenage freedom fighter Jasim Uddin in confinement at Dalim Hotel based torture cell and dumping his body in the Karnaphuli River.
In recent years he emerged as a business and media tycoon and ran business establishments of Jamaat.
Source: New Age
