A defence counsel yesterday told the Supreme Court that the witnesses against Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed in three crimes against humanity charges were of a tender age, biased and evasive and their statements were unbelievable.

Therefore the conviction and sentence handed down in the charges of abducting and killing eminent journalist Serajuddin Hossain, confining Ranjit Nath, and killing composer Altaf Mahmud, Jahir Uddin Jalal, Badi, Rumi (son of Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam), Jewel and Azad are liable to be scrapped, said SM Shahjahan.

International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 sentenced Mojaheed to death for abducting and killing Serajuddin, and merged this offence with the charge of killing intellectuals and professionals.

It sentenced the Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general to life imprisonment in the charge of killing Altaf, Jalal, Badi and Rumi and to five years' imprisonment in the charge of confining Ranjit during the 1971 Liberation War.

According to the verdict, Mojaheed had led a "death squad" named Al-Badr that worked as an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army.