Mir Quasem's appeal hearing deferred

The Supreme Court yesterday deferred for a week the hearing on the appeal filed by war criminal Mir Quasem Ali challenging his death penalty.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha fixed February 9 for the hearing, as Quasem's lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain prayed for time for taking preparation.

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The apex court was set to start hearing on the appeal yesterday, said the lawyer.

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

Around four weeks later, he filed the 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.