Mir Quasem Ali files review plea
Death-row convict war criminal and Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali yesterday filed a review petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking reconsideration of its verdict that had upheld his death penalty for crimes against humanity committed during the countrys War of Liberation in 1971. Barrister Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem, submitted the review petition with the related branch of the Supreme Court seeking acquittal of all seven charges for which he was awarded death penalty. He said there were 14 grounds mentioned in the review petition seeking release of the convict in the war crimes case. Defence counsel Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain at a press briefing claimed that the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) had convicted the Jamaats central executive council leader based on unverified statements of prosecution witnesses. On June 6, the ICT issued a death warrant for the Jamaat-e-Islami leader hours after the Supreme Court released the full text of its verdict upholding his death penalty. Earlier on 8 March, the Appellate Division upheld the death penalty for Mir Quasem for his crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War. 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 with the SC challenging the death penalty. Among the total 14 charges brought against Mir Quasem for war crimes, the tribunal convicted him on 10 counts of charges and acquitted him from four. The 64-year-old top Jamaat-e-Islami financier was president of the Chittagong city unit of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of the party, till November 6, 1971. He was then made general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha.
