Mir Quasem’s death warrant reaches Dhaka jail

Mir Quasem 3

The death warrant for war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali has reached Dhaka Central Jail.

The Jail Super received a copy of the death warrant Monday evening, said International Crimes Tribunal registrar Shahidul Alam Jhinuk.

Another two copies of the death warrant were sent to the Home Ministry and Dhaka District Magistrate, he said.

Now, the death warrant will be read out to the war crimes convict, Jhinuk added.

Earlier, a three-member bench of the tribunal, led by Justice Anwarul Haq, signed the death warrant in the afternoon.

Now Mir Quasem will have 15 days, starting from the day of the verdict’s publication, to file a petition to have the judgment reviewed.

Once the review petition is resolved and if the death sentence is upheld, the war crimes convict will have the opportunity to seek mercy from the president and meet family members.

If the Jamaat leader declines to seek a review or if he is denied pardon, the government then will order the jail authorities to carry out the death penalty.

Earlier on March 08, the Appellate Division upheld the death penalty for Mir Quasem Ali for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Sinha, came up with the verdict, after allowing in part the appeal filed by the Jamaat leader challenging the tribunal’s death sentence.

On February 24, after concluding the hearing, the apex court had fixed March 8 for pronouncement of its verdict on the appeal filed by Mir Quasem Ali against the death sentence.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 in a verdict had sentenced Mir Quasem Ali, Al-Badr chief in the port city of Chittagong in 1971, to death on November 2, 2014.

On November 30, 2014, Mir Quasem filed an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the death penalty.

Among the total 14 charges brought against Mir Quasem for war crimes, the tribunal convicted him on 10 charges and acquitted him from four.

The Appellate Division started hearing the appeal on February 9, 2016.

Top Jamaat-e-Islami financier Quasem, now 64, was president of the Chittagong town unit of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, student wing of Jamaat, till November 6, 1971.

He was then made general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha.

Source: Ittefaq