Mir Quasem seeks review of death sentence

Convicted war criminal Mir Quasem Ali today sought review of the Supreme Court verdict that had upheld his death penalty for crimes against humanity during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

Quasem submitted the petition with the apex court through his lawyer seeking acquittal of all the seven charges against him.

The member of Jamaat's central executive council was convicted by International Crimes Tribunal-2 based unverified statements of prosecution witnesses, defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain claimed while talking to reporters.

In the petition, 14 grounds have been mentioned based on which the SC may consider Quasem's review petition.

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On March 8, the Appellate Division of the SC sentenced Quasem for his crimes against humanity. The full text of the judgment has been published on June 6.

Profile of Mir Quasem

Quasem, 63, is the fifth Jamaat-e-Islami leader to get the death penalty for notorious role in 1971. He is considered by many as the main financier of the anti-liberation party.

He was arrested on June 17, 2012, at the office of the daily Naya Diganta, a concern of Diganta Media Corporation, of which he was chairman.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 in November 2014 gave him death penalty on two charges and different jail terms on eight other charges. He later challenged the verdict at the apex court.

Quasem had allegedly paid $25 million to an American lobbyist firm to carry out a smear campaign to make the war crimes trial controversial, the then law minister Shafique Ahmed told parliament on April 28 in 2013.