Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s death penalty getting reduced by Supreme Court to life in jail is a binding judgment even though it is undesirable.
People of Bangladesh would have been happy if Sayedee’s death sentence was upheld, she said on Thursday, wading into the issue for the first time.
The highest appeals court on Wednesday watered down the death sentence, given by the International Crimes Tribunal, of the top Jamaat leader to ‘imprisonment until death’.
Ganajagaran Mancha has accused the government of ‘colluding’ with Jamaat on the verdict. The government has rejected this but otherwise has been reserved with its comments.
Hasina said in her closing remarks at the end of Parliament’s third session, “No one wanted this verdict. Sayedee earned fame as a religious preacher. Now the people will remember him as a murderer, rapist and war criminal.”
“He may have said good things, but as a person he was rogue.”
Though she said the verdict was unwanted, but the prime minister did not make any direct comment on the court’s ruling.
“Sayedee’s hanging would have made the nation happy. The courts are free, the judiciary is independent. There is nothing to say about this verdict.”
The Awami League president also questioned Jamaat’s calling nationwide shutdowns for Thursday and Sunday in protest against the verdict.
“Would his (Sayedee) hanging have made Jamaat happy? This strike is against the judiciary and the judiciary will handle it.”
Hasina also said the trials of the 1971 war criminals would continue despite all obstructions.
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The prime minister also defended the 16th Amendment which brings the power to sack Supreme Court judges back to Parliament.
“This decision was in the hands of a three-member judicial council. Now it has to be a two-thirds majority in Parliament,” she explained.
“So this amendment has offered more independence, honour and sanctity to the judiciary. People who are criticising the decision aren’t thinking about the reality,” she said.
Hasina spoke for almost 45 minutes, talking about her government’s success in various aspects like education, health and food security.
She answered Opposition Jatiya Party’s leader Raushon Ershad’s charges of banking sector corruption and Dhaka’s drainage management.
She blamed Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad’s regime for Dhaka’s problems.
“This is your fault,” she said. “You made box culverts in Panthapath. It would have been much better if there were roads on both sides of the Panthapath canal,” she said.
Source: Bd news24
