SC judgment any day
The Supreme Court could any day set a date for delivering the verdict on the appeals regarding the sentencing of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee by the International Crimes Tribunal-1.
Yesterday, the apex court kept the appeals of the war crimes case waiting for verdict delivery rejecting two petitions, one filed by Sayedee and the other filed by the prosecution.
The closing arguments on the appeals ended on Tuesday.
The Tribunal-1 on February 28 last year 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.
Protesting the Tribunal-1 verdict, the activists of Jamaat and pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir last year went on the rampage in many places across the country that left more than 60 people dead.
The Jamaat-Shibir men in Bogra even tried to coax people into joining in by a 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.
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.
On March 28 last year, Sayedee filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking acquittal on all charges. The same day, the government submitted a separate appeal seeking Sayedee's punishment on all eight charges.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain started hearing the appeals in September last year. Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik are the other members of the bench.
The hearing went on for 48 days.
During the hearing, defence counsels -- Khandker Mahbub Hossain and SM Shahjahan -- told the bench that Tribunal-1 had convicted and sentenced Sayedee on false and baseless documents and evidence and that Sayedee should be acquitted of all charges.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the Appellate Division to affirm the Tribunal-1 verdict that sentenced Sayedee to death, saying all the charges against Sayedee were proved beyond reasonable doubt.
This is the second crimes against humanity case appeal on which the Appellate Division is set to announce a judgment.
On September 17 last year, this court had handed down the death penalty to another Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah for his wartime atrocities in 1971. Mollah was executed on December 12 last year.
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