The Supreme Court has fixed April 28 for commencing the appeal hearings of Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, filed challenging the death penalty handed down by the tribunal.
The four-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order on Wednesday morning.
On March 25, the defence filed a petition seeking six-week adjournment in the Mujaheed case citing that chief defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain had been ill.
Mujaheed filed the appeal on August 12, 2013 seeking acquittal from all the charges. He was sentenced to death by the tribunal on July 17 the same year.
Of the five proven charges out of seven brought against him, Mujaheed was given capital punishment in two – for abetting and facilitating killing of intellectuals during the 1971 Liberation War, and participating in and facilitating the murder of nine Hindu civilians in Faridpur.
As a leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha – Jamaat’s then student wing – Mujaheed in 1971 had led a “death squad” named al-Badr.
On the other hand, Salauddin was given the death penalty on four out of nine proven charges on October 1, 2013 for committing crimes against humanity and genocide in Chittagong with an aim to annihilate the Hindu community. He filed the appeal on October 29 the same year.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
