Govt appeal for death penalty lawful

The government lawfully sought death penalty on all six crimes-against-humanity charges against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah, even on the one he had been acquitted by the trial court, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the Supreme Court yesterday.
There is no legal bar on moving the appeal under the amended International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 and challenging the acquittal as the amendment was brought with retrospective effect, a condition protected by the constitution, he added.
Mahbubey Alam was placing arguments on the 17th day of the SC's Appellate Division hearing on the government appeal.
On February 5, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 jailed Mollah for life after finding him guilty of five wartime criminal offences.
The ICT-2 acquitted Mollah from the charge of killing in the villages of Khanbari and Ghatarchar, now Shaheed Nagar of Keraniganj, as it was not proven.
As per the charge, Mollah along with his 60 to 70 accomplices went to the villages and caught two unarmed freedom fighters from the house of Mozaffar Ahmed Khan on November 25, 1971.
Freedom fighters Osman Gani and Golam Mostafa were brutally murdered by charging bayonet in broad daylight.
A systematic attack and indiscriminate shooting by Mollah and his gang killed hundreds of unarmed villagers that day. Among them, 24 were named in the charge.
Earlier, Mollah's lawyer Abdur Razzaq questioned the legality of appealing for death sentence in the charge.