SC begins hearing Mir Quasem Ali appeal
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday started hearing an appeal filed by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali challenging the verdict of a war crimes tribunal that awarded him death sentence for wartime offences. A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha started the hearing at 9:05am with Quasems lawyer SM Shahjahan reading the charges from a paper book. The other judges of the bench are: Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Justice Bazlur Rahman and Justice Mirza Hussain Haider. The same bench will resume hearing the appeal this morning. On November 2, 2014, the then International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced Quasem Ali to death after it found him guilty on 10 charges of abduction, and confining and torturing people during the Liberation War in 1971. Ali later filed an appeal with the SC, challenging the tribunals verdict. Ali, a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Central Executive Council, in his appeal, cited 181 reasons for his acquittal on all charges. So far, the apex court has handed down its verdicts against six war criminals in war crimes cases.
