Verdict on war criminal Mojaheed’s appeal against death penalty on June 16

The Supreme Court on June 16 will deliver its verdict on an appeal filed by war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed challenging death penalty and other sentences handed down to him.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday fixed the date after hearing the appeal for nine days. Three other judges of the bench are Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

This is the fourth appeal regarding crimes against humanity cases in which the apex court is set to announce verdict.

After the SC fixed the date, both the state and the defence counsels expressed hope that the verdict would go in their favour.

In July 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced the 67-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general to death, jailed him for life and sentenced him to five years in prison in five separate charges.

He filed the appeal with the SC on August 11 the same year, seeking acquittal of all the charges against him.

During the hearing of the appeal yesterday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the Appellate Division to uphold the Tribunal-2's verdict, saying the tribunal had given the judgement rightly after properly examining documents, evidence and statements of witnesses.

Mojaheed, a leader of Al-Badr and Islami Chhatra Sangha, had killed intellectuals including noted journalist Serajuddin Hossain in 1971, he argued.

On the other side, Mojaheed's lawyer SM Shahjahan told the SC that the prosecution had miserably failed to produce credible and trustworthy evidence and witnesses before the court against his client. Mojaheed was likely to be acquitted of all the charges brought against him, he argued.

On July 17, 2013, the tribunal sentenced Mojaheed to death for abducting and killing eminent journalist Serajuddin Hossain during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

The tribunal merged this offence with the charge of killing intellectuals and professionals, for which Mojaheed was also found guilty of and sentenced to death.

The charge concerning the killing of intellectuals says the Pakistan army set up a camp at Mohammadpur Physical Training Institute, Dhaka, and members of Razakar and Al-Badr forces used to receive training there.

Mojaheed was also given death penalty for his involvement in the killing of the Hindus in Bakchar village in Faridpur in 1971.

The tribunal sentenced Mojaheed to life imprisonment for killing composer Altaf Mahmud, Jahir Uddin Jalal, Badi, Rumi (son of Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam), Jewel and Azad at Old MP Hostel at Nakhalpara in Dhaka and to five years' imprisonment for confining Ranjit Nath, a civilian, at a Bihari camp in Faridpur.

According to the verdict, Mojaheed led a “death squad” named Al-Badr that worked as an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army.

Mojaheed, who was made a technocrat minister during the BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance rule in 2001-2006, came under huge criticism for his audacious comment in 2007 that there were no war criminals in the country.