It helps ensure rule of law: AL
Awami League (AL) leaders have hailed the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali. They said the execution of the top war criminal, who committed crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, proves that there is rule of law in the country. They thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and said the trial and execution of war criminals became possible as the Awami League was in power and she was at the helm. Talking to this correspondent yesterday, AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said: This verdict was what the people were hoping for. We are happy, the nation is happy. The AL leader said the execution proves that rule of law prevails in the country, and the nation has got rid of the stigma of impunity. The souls of three million martyrs of the Liberation War will get solace, while two lakh sisters and mothers who were violated during the war have got justice, he added.
AL international affairs secretary, Lt. Col. (retd) Mohammad Faruk Khan, said rule of law has been established in the country. Democracy and development cannot exist in a country if there is no rule of law. No one will get away from justice, he added. Another AL leader and food minister, Qamrul Islam, said peoples expectations have been fulfilled by the execution of a war criminal who wanted to halt the trial process of war crimes by using his illegal money.
The SC verdict against Mir Quasem was executed yesterday amid tight security. On Tuesday, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) had dismissed his petition to review the death sentence. On November 2, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal had sentenced Mir Quasem, a member of the Jamaat-e-Islamis Central Executive Council, to death on two charges of war crimes. He challenged the verdict, but in March this year, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. Mir Quasem filed the review petition in June.
