SC starts hearing war criminal Mir Quasem’s plea

The Supreme Court today started hearing an appeal filed by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali challenging death sentence for his crimes against humanity during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha began the hearing at 9:05am with Quasem’s lawyer SM Shahjahan reading out the charges from the paper book.

The defence lawyer also read out statements of the prosecution witnesses during the four-hour hearing.

The Appellate Division bench fixed tomorrow for further hearing on the appeal.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on November 2, 2014 sentenced Quasem to death after it found him guilty on 10 charges of abducting, confining and torturing people during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

Around four weeks later, he filed an appeal with the SC challenging the tribunal's verdict.

Quasem, a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Central Executive Council, in his appeal cited 181 reasons for his acquittal on all the charges.