Mir Quasem Ali, a top leader of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party and Bangladeshi media tycoon, today moved the Supreme Court to challenge the death penalty given to him for the atrocities he committed during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Ali, 62, founding president of Jamaat’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, was sentenced to death by Bangladesh’s second war crimes tribunal on November 2.
The tribunal found Ali guilty of 10 out of 14 charges while under two charges he was sentenced to death for torturing to death two juvenile freedom fighters and throwing their bodies into a river at northeastern port city of Chittagong.
Ali’s counsel Shishir Muhammad Monir confirmed that they had submitted the appeal documents to the court, bdnews24 reported.
Ali, a former leader of Jamaat’s powerful student wing, was the third in command of the infamous Gestapo like Al-Badr militia forces.
Known to be a top financier of Jamaat, Ali, heads Diganta Media Corporation which owns a pro-Jamaat daily and a television station.
He also has a number of other businesses including in real estate and shipping sectors.
Ali was accused of running a makeshift torture camp at a hotel in Chittagong where hundreds of people, believed to be freedom fighters, and their supporters were killed during the independence war.
—PTI