Mir Quasem wants more time to decide on seeking clemency
Condemned war criminal Mir Quasem Ali yesterday sought more time to decide whether to pray for presidential clemency, the last option to avoid the gallows.
The 63-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami leader said he wanted time to make a decision when the authorities of Kashimpur Central Jail-2 in Gazipur asked him if he would seek mercy of the president, Prashanta Kumar Banik, senior jail superintendent, told The Daily Star.
Earlier on Wednesday, a day after the Supreme Court upheld his death penalty for war crimes, he sought time to decide his next course of action. Nine of his family members, including his wife Khandakar Ayesha Khatun, met him in jail that day.
Quasem, widely considered a top financier of Jamaat, will not decide what to do next until his son, allegedly picked up by unidentified men 22 days ago, returns home, Ayesha told reporters.
His son Ahmed Bin Quasem was allegedly picked up from his Mirpur DOHS home in the capital on the night of August 9. He has remained traceless since then.
Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin, however, on Wednesday said the convict would get “reasonable time” to make his decision but the time would not be more than seven days.
If Quasem, a central executive council member of Jamaat, seeks mercy, his plea will go to the president through the home ministry. If he doesn't, the jail authorities will prepare for his execution.
BACKGROUND
The SC on Tuesday dismissed Quasem's petition seeking a review of the judgment upholding his death penalty for crimes against humanity in 1971. The apex court released the full verdict and sent it to the International Crimes Tribunal.
The ICT then sent copies of the verdict to Dhaka Central Jail, the office of Dhaka district magistrate and law and home ministries. The Dhaka jail sent a copy to the Kashimpur jail.
Quasem, the chief of ruthless militia Al-Badr in Chittagong, had set up a torture camp during the Liberation War at Dalim Hotel in the port city. Torture and killing of many freedom-loving people were carried out on his instruction at the camp.
The ICT-2 sentenced him to death on two charges and awarded him different jail terms on eight other charges. He challenged the verdict at the apex court.
On March 8 this year, the SC upheld his death sentence on one charge -- the killing of young freedom fighter Jasim Uddin at Dalim Hotel -- and jail terms for his involvement in abduction, confinement and torture of freedom fighters and innocent people.
It, however, acquitted him of three other charges, including a murder charge on which he was sentenced to death by the ICT-2.
Quasem filed the review petition on June 19.