Bangladesh Jamaat leader hanged for alleged war crimes

By Mainul Islam Khan

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a former top businessman and one of the top leaders of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged Saturday for allegedly committing war crimes 45 years ago, during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence.

Proshanto Kumar Banik, the senior superintendent of Kashimpur Prison, confirmed to the media that Mir Quasem was hanged at around 10:30 p.m. local time (1630GMT).

Security has been tightened around the jail in Kashimpur’s Gazipur district, near the capital Dhaka.

Earlier, on Aug. 30, Bangladesh’s top court dismissed Mir Quasem’s appeal to review the death penalty it had previously handed down.

The same Appellate Division bench judged Mir Quasem's appeal on March 8, upholding the death sentence given by the International Crimes Tribunal – a special domestic court – in November 2014.

After the dismissal of his review petition, the only remaining life-saving option he had was to seek presidential clemency, a step he declined to take.

The jail authorities began preparing for his execution after he chose not seek clemency.

According to local media, Mir Quasem's wife Khondoker Ayesha Khatun said on Saturday after meeting her husband, “Those responsible for hanging him will not win.’

Mir Quasem is the sixth leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami who has been executed for alleged war crimes. He is the fifth top Jamaat leader whose death sentence for war crimes was upheld in the final verdict.

On Aug. 30, Amnesty International also asked Bangladesh’s government to cancel the execution.

Mir Quasem Ali was born to Mir Tayeb Ali and Rabeya Begum in Manikganj, near the capital Dhaka, on December 31, 1952. He joined Islami Chhatra Sangha in 1967 while studying at Chittagong Collegiate School.

Mir Quasem Ali was a director of Islami Bank, and also chairman of Diganta Media, which owns Diganta television. He was the founder of Ibn Sina Trust and director of the NGO Rabita al-Alam al-Islami, according to Wikipedia.