In March, the Supreme Court had upheld the death penalty for Mir Quasem
Ali, 63, a media tycoon and key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for
murder, confinement, torture and incitement to religious hatred during the war
to leave Pakistan.
Bangladesh's top court on Tuesday rejected a final
appeal by the leader of an Islamist party against a death sentence for
atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence, lawyers said, meaning
he could be hanged at any time.
The verdict comes as the
Muslim-majority nation suffers a series of militant attacks, the most serious
on July 1, when gunmen stormed a cafe in the capital, Dhaka, and killed 20
hostages, most of them foreigners.
UPHELD DEATH PENALTY
FOR MIR QUASEM ALI
In March, the Supreme Court had
upheld the death penalty for Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a media tycoon and key
financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for murder, confinement, torture and
incitement to religious hatred during the war to leave Pakistan.
"Now it
is only a matter of time to execute the verdict, unless he seeks clemency from
the president," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters after a
panel of five judges headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha rejected the
appeal.Lawyers for Ali could not be reached immediately for comment on whether
the party leader would seek clemency.
WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL SPARKS CRITICISM
The war
crimes tribunal set up by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010 has sparked
violence and drawn criticism from opposition politicians, who say it is
victimising her political opponents. The government denies the
accusations.Human rights groups say the tribunal's procedures fall short of
international standards, but the government rejects that assertion, and the
trials are supported by many Bangladeshis.
Authorities
have deployed additional security forces in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere,
as similar previous judgments triggered violence that killed around 200, mainly
Jamaat activists and police.
PARTY RUBBISHES CLAIMS
Since
December 2013, four Jamaat leaders, including former top leader Motiur Rahman
Nizami, and a leader of the main opposition party, led by former premier
Khaleda Zia, have been executed for war crimes.Official figures show about 3
million people were killed and thousands of women raped during the nine-month
war, in which some factions, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, opposed the break
from what was then called West Pakistan.
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