War criminal Mir Quasem's appeal hearing starts

The Supreme Court yesterday started hearing an appeal of war criminal and Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, challenging the death sentence for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha began the hearing with Quasem's lawyer SM Shahjahan reading out the charges.

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The defence lawyer also read out statements of the prosecution witnesses during the four-hour hearing. The bench fixed today for further hearing.

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

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

Quasem, a member of Jamaat's central executive council, in his appeal cited 181 reasons for his acquittal on all the charges.