Bangladeshi politician's death penalty upheld

By Mainul Islam Khan

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh’s top court on Tuesday dismissed a review petition filed by a politician sentenced to death for war crimes.

The same court in March rejected an appeal March by Mir Quasem Ali, a leading figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami party, upholding the 2014 sentence from the International Crimes Tribunal – a special domestic court focused on war crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 independence war with Pakistan.

His lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said Ali and his family will decide whether to seek presidential clemency – the only remaining option to avoid execution.

Bangladesh’s Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters “the whole nation and I are relieved over the verdict, I am satisfied.”

Jamaat-e-Islami called for a protest shutdown on Wednesday, claiming the Bangladeshi government through a "planned conspiracy is killing Jamaat-e-Islami’s top leaders one by one."

Ali, 63, was convicted of the abduction, torture and killing of teenage freedom fighter Jasim Uddin during the nine-month war and is the sixth person convicted of war crimes to have all appeals denied. All but one belonged to the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

The party has denied its involvement in alleged war crimes and the tribunal has been criticized internationally for falling short of fair trial standards but still has popular support in Bangladesh, where the government says up to 3 million people were killed during the war by the Pakistani army and local collaborators.