B'desh SC upholds death plea of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem

The Appellate Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the review petition against death of Mir Quasem Ali, the infamous Al-Badr leader of Chittagong and the moneyman of Jamaat-e-Islami.

A five-member bench of Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed the plea against death awarded to him by a specialised war trial tribunal two years ago, which was later upheld by the apex court.

The condemned war criminal now has the lone chance to appeal against the ruling before President Abdul Hamid.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said that Quasem's death-sentence will be carried out after the Supreme Court releases full text of the verdict, reports the Daily Star.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on November 2, 2014, handed capital punishment to 63-year-old Jamaat leader over crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War in 1971.

The verdict was upheld by the Appellate Division on March 8 this year and the full text was released on June 6, hours after which the ICT had issued a death warrant for him.

Quasem on June 19 submitted his petition seeking a review of death.

He emerged as one of the leading business tycoons of Bangladesh, the birth of which he vehemently opposed in 1971.

Quasem was the general secretary of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, in 1971.

He became the founding president of Islami Chhatra Shibir after the student body re-emerged in 1977.