SQ Chy death penalty upheld
State wants
The state yesterday pleaded the Appellate Division for upholding the death penalty to convicted war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for his involvement in crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War in 1971.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, the chief law officer of the state, made the prayer before a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha.
In his final argument, Alam urged the apex court to uphold the International Crimes Tribunal-1 verdict that had sentenced SQ Chowdhury to death for committing war crimes in Chittagong region during in 1971.
After concluding the hearing, the apex court fixed Sunday for hearing argument of Chowdhurys counsel SM Shahjahan over the appeal.
Later, Alam told reporters that upholding the death sentence given to BNP leader SQ Chowdhury by ICT-1 for his crimes against humanity was exact and very much essential.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the Appellate Division began hearing of arguments from the attorney general in the appeal as Shahjahan sought time for their preparation of the argument.
Shahjahan took eight working days from June 16 to complete reading out the documents that include the ICT verdict, deposition of both prosecution and defence witnesses, their cross-examination, and other evidences of the case.
On October 1, 2013, the ICT-1 found Salauddin, a standing committee member of the BNP, guilty on nine of 23 charges brought against him for committing crimes against humanity.
The tribunal handed him death penalty in four charges, 20 years in jail in three charges and five years in jail for two other cases. CHowdhury was, however, acquitted of 14 other charges.
On October 29, Salauddin had filed an appeal with the apex court challenging the tribunal verdict against him.
