Sunday, November 2, 2014

Death for Quasem - Bangladesh court sentences key Islamist party figure to death

A special tribunal in Dhaka today handed death penalty to Mir Quasem Ali, infamous for leading Al-Badr force in torturing freedom fighters at a hotel in Chittagong, to death for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
Ten out of 14 charges have been proved against the 62-year-old, International Crimes Tribunal-2 announced while delivering the verdict.
As the third most powerful man of the Al-Badr force, Ali got highest penalty -- death sentence -- for two charges.
One charge is torture and killing of adolescent freedom fighter Jasim along with five unidentified people after Eid-ul-Fitr of 1971 at Dalim Hotel at Andorkilla in Chittagong after abduction. The other charge is kidnapping of Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Ranjit Das Prokash Latu and Tuntu Sen in November, 1971. Latu and Tuntu were later killed and their bodies were never found.
Mir Quasem is known as a key financier of Jamaat, which was instrumental to block the birth of Bangladesh by collaborating with Pakistan occupation forces and carrying out crimes against humanity.
"The verdict was based on false witness accounts," defence counsel Mizanul Islam quoted the convict in his immediate reaction inside the court.
Alleging that they were deprived of justice, Islam said they would appeal with the Supreme Court where they expected of getting justice.

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