Bangla Jamaat leader death sentence commuted

Dhaka: Bangladesh Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence of Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to life imprisonment for his crimes against humanity committed during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

A five-member bench of the apex court, headed by the Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, pronounced the verdict by majority view amid tight security.

However, the chief justice did not disclose names of the judges who gave different opinions over the judgement of the 73-year-old Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on February 28, 2013 sentenced Sayedee to death for killing Ibrahim Kutti and one Bisa Bali in Pirojpur in 1971, even though it had found him guilty on eight charges filed against him.

On March 28, 2013, Sayedee filed an appeal with the SC seeking acquittal on all charges. The same day, the government submitted a separate appeal seeking Sayedee’s punishment on all the eight charges.

The other charges Sayedee was convicted of include his association with Pakistani soldiers to abduct three women and rape them, torturing people, looting and setting fire to the houses of Hindus, forcing them convert to Islam in Pirojpur, and forcing them to leave the country in 1971.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the Supreme Court verdict in war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the judgement did not fulfill his expectation.

“I had expected that the apex court will uphold death sentence of Sayedee that International Crimes Tribunal-1 delivered,” Alam said.

“But we did not get the judgement as per our expectation, I feel sorry,” he added.

Asked if the defence can file any review petition against the SC verdict, the attorney general said “There is no scope for filing such petition as the trial was run under a special law,” he added.

Following the verdict, Sayedee has to serve in jail till his natural death, the attorney general said.

Asked whether Sayedee will be brought to normal cell of jail from condemned cell, he said, “If the jail authorities want to know my view, I will convey the SC judgment and then the jail authorities will take the steps”.

The attorney general said, “It has been proved now that Sayedee has forced people to convert religion and he was involved in raping and torturing women during the Liberation War in 1971”.

On the other hand minutes after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, Gonojagoron Mancha rejected the verdict terming it “biased”.

“It is a biased verdict that is aimed at establishing the politics of Jamaat and Shibir,” Imran H Sarker, spokesperson of a faction of the Gonojagoron Mancha, said while giving his instant reaction to reporters at Shahbagh .

“The verdict is an outcome of a compromise (of the government) with Jamaat,” Sarker said.

Protesting the verdict, the activists of Gonojagoron Mancha, a pro-liberation plat, brought out a procession from Shahbagh and marched towards the Supreme Court.

The activities of the Mancha, a pro-liberation plat, picked up a scuffle with policemen when they tried to remove the barricades in front of the SC.

Sarker alleged that the government split the platform in two in a preplanned manner to divide the unity of the young generation against such verdicts.

 “Police superintendents of all districts were asked to take effective measures centring on the delivery of the verdict,” said Hassan Mahmood Khandker, Inspector General of Police.

Police, said the IGP, is prepared to tackle any probable violence.

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan said special measures will be taken in Jamaat strongholds.

After the SC verdict, Imran Siddique, a counsel for Sayedee, said that they will file a review petition with the apex court seeking his client’s acquittal of all the charges once they get the copy of full judgment.

The Supreme Court bench on April 16, 2013 kept from delivering judgment with the hearings lasting 48 days.

Protesting the Tribunal-1 verdict, the activists of Jamaat and pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir went on a rampage in many places across the country, last year, which left at least 65 people dead.

The Jamaat-Shibir men in Bogra even tried to coax people into joining in by propaganda that Sayedee’s face was seen on the moon and that it was people’s holy duty to save the Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer.

This is the second crimes against humanity case appeal on which the Appellate Division announced a judgment.

On September 17 2013, the court handed down the death penalty to another Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah for his wartime atrocities in 1971. Mollah was executed on December 12, 2013.