SC verdict against Sayedee
THE Supreme Court in a verdict on Wednesday sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to imprisonment till death for his crimes against humanity in 1971. While the victims' families and many others may not find it satisfactory we we accept this judgment which has been pronounced by majority opinion of a full bench of the Appellate Division. It has been delivered at the end of a long process of adjudication during which 48 days of hearings were held by the apex court.
It may be recalled that the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) in February 28, 2013 had awarded death sentence to Sayedee on two counts of crime among other atrocious crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of 1971.
The learned court has come up with its verdict after due diligence following an exhaustive process of disposal of two appeal petitions. Both the defence and the state counsels were allowed adequate latitude and time to make out their respective cases as due process of law has been meticulously followed. Therefore, it will be in the fitness of things that we respect the judgment.
With the disposal of the appeal petition, the process of trial of the war criminals of 1971 takes a significant step forward. We commend all those who have been involved in this arduous process of bringing to justice all those who committed crimes against humanity and fought against our war of independence.
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