The Supreme Court is set to deliver today the verdict on the appeal of war criminal Mir Quasem Ali challenging his conviction amid some “unexpected comments” by two ministers on the chief justice.
A five-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha is scheduled to sit at 9:00am and pronounce the judgement, delivery of which is on top of today’s cause list.
This is the seventh time the Appellate Division is going to deliver a verdict on an appeal against the international crimes tribunals’ judgements.
Quasem Ali, 63, a member of Jamaat-e- Islami’s central executive council and considered by many as a top financer of the anti-liberation party, was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 in 2014 for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
On February 24, the apex court bench fixed today for delivering the verdict on his appeal after concluding the hearing. The other four judges of the bench are Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Mohammad Bazlur Rahman.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday expressed the hope that the capital punishment would be upheld.
Talking to reporters at his office, the top law officer of the state said the apex court would deliver the verdict on the basis of statements of witnesses, evidence, information and documents.
So, any politicians’ comments on the chief justice would not affect the verdict, he argued.
Quasem Ali’s principal lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain has meanwhile expressed the hope that his client would “get justice” today.
He also said political comments would not influence the judgement, adding, they would accept the apex court verdict to be delivered on the basis of evidence and testimony.
Khandker Mahbub on March 6 however said the apex court had been “undermined” by the comments of the two ministers. He also expressed the hope that the apex court would take action against the ministers.
Food Minister Qamrul Islam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque on March 5 and 6 respectively blasted the chief justice.
Qamrul, also a joint general secretary of Dhaka city Awami League, at a party meeting alleged that the chief justice was openly speaking in the language used by BNP, Jamaat and their lobbyists in their efforts to undermine the trial of war criminals.
The same day Qamrul demanded that the appeal of Quasem be reheard by a reconstituted Appellate Division bench, keeping the chief justice out of it. He added that the CJ in an open court made some observations that raised questions about the prosecutors and investigators’ role in the trial.
Minister Mozammel Haque the next day said the CJ should not deliver the verdict in Quasem’s case.
The attorney general the same day termed their comments unconstitutional and unprecedented and urged all to refrain from making any such hostile comments against the CJ.
An SC lawyer has meanwhile served a legal notice on the two ministers asking them to explain their comments.
SM Zulfiqure Ali yesterday sent the notices to the food and liberation war affairs ministers seeking their explanation in black and white within 24 hours.
In the notice, Zulfiqure asked the ministers to explain as to why their comments on the CJ and a subjudice matter should not be declared illegal, unconstitutional and be considered as an offence tantamount to contempt of court.
He said that if the two ministers did not provide any explanation in time, he would file a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary action.
According to the prosecution, Mir Quasem was the president of Chittagong town unit of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, until November 6, 1971. He was then made the general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha.
He went into hiding after the Pakistan occupation forces and their local collaborators surrendered on December 16, 1971. But years later, he re-emerged and subsequently assumed the role of Jamaat’s chief financier.
He had been leading a free life until his arrest on June 17, 2012 at the office of the daily Naya Diganta, a concern of Diganta Media Corporation, of which he was the chairman.
The ICT-2 on November 2, 2014 sentenced Quasem to death after finding him guilty on 10 charges for abducting, confining and torturing people during the liberation War.
He was also sentenced to death for the murders of young freedom fighter Jasim, Ranjit Das and Tuntu Sen at Dalim Hotel, an Al-Badr camp in Chittagong.
The tribunal also jailed him for 20 years for the abduction, confinement and torture of Lutfar Rahman Faruk and Seraj and for another 10 years for abduction, confinement and torture of Nasiruddin Chowdhury.
He also got seven-year jail term for six other charges. The charges are abduction, confinement and torture of Jahangir Alam Chowdhury; abduction, confinement and torture of Saifuddin Khan; abduction, confinement and torture of Harunur Rashid Khan; abduction, confinement and torture of Sanaulla Chowdhury, Habibur Rahman and Elias; abduction, confinement and torture of Sayed Md Jamaluddin and six others; and abduction, confinement and torture of Zakaria, Salahuddin alias Chuttu Miah, Iskandar Alam Chowdhury, Nazim Uddin and many others.
