B’desh hangs Jamaat-e-Islami stalwart Ali for 1971 war crimes

From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Sep 3 (PTI) Bangladesh’s fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader and media tycoon Mir Quasem Ali was hangedtonight, the sixth Islamist to be executed for war crimescommitted during the country’s 1971 Liberation War againstPakistan. Ali was hanged in Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirtsof the capital. "He was hanged at 10.35 PM (local time)," Home MinisterAsaduzzaman Khan told PTI. His execution came after 63-year-old Ali refused to seekpresidential clemency yesterday. The presidential mercy was the last resort for Ali, whowas the infamous pro-Pakistan Al-Badr militia’s third mostimportant figure, to save his neck after the Supreme Courtrejected his final review petition on Tuesday. Earlier, authorities had called Ali’s family to the prisonto meet him. "Twenty-two members of his family reached the jail to seehim (Ali) for the last time," private TV channels reported. Ali, who owned several business houses and media outletsincluding a now suspended TV channel, was a central executivecouncil member of Jamaat-e-Islami. He pumped billions into the Jamaat since the mid-1980s toput it on a firm financial footing in Bangladesh. He was convicted of running Al Badr’s torture cell thatcarried out killings of several people. Three million people were said to have been massacred inthe war by the Pakistani army and their local collaborators. Ali’s hanging comes nearly four months afterJamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was executed. With the execution, Ali became the sixth top perpetratorto be hanged for the war crimes. Before him, five war crimes convicts had been executedsince Bangladesh initiated a trial process in 2010 for the1971 war criminals. Of the five executed war crimes convicts,two had sought presidential clemency which was rejected. PTIAR ASKASK