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Bangladeshi media tycoon and fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali could be executed soon after the Supreme Court today upheld his death sentence for committing war crimes during the country's 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
The five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, the first Hindu to occupy the post in the Muslim- majority country, pronounced a single-word judgement in the packed court room.
"Rejected," said Sinha on the appeal of 64-year-old Ali, the infamous pro-Pakistan Al-Badr milita's third most important figure after Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.
Both Nizami and Mujahid have already been executed for 1971 war crimes.
Ali is considered as the key-financier of Jamaat, which was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence from Pakistan.
In his brief comments after the verdict, attorney general Mahbubey Alam said that Ali could now seek presidential clemency as his last resort to save himself from the gallows.
"He now could be (sent) to (the) gallows anytime if he does not seek clemency or his mercy petition is rejected," Alam told reporters.
Ali's lawyers were not available for comments.
The apex court's decision paves the way for Ali's execution unless he seeks presidential pardon.
Ali had filed the review petition after the apex court published its full verdict and the International Crimes Tribunal issued the death warrant against him on June 6.
Ali, who owns several business houses and media outlets including a now suspended TV channel, is a central executive council member of Jamaat-e-Islami.
He pumped billions into the Jamaat since the mid-1980s to put it on a firm financial footing in Bangladesh.
He was convicted of running Al Badr's torture cell that carried out killings of several people.
Three million people were said to have been massacred in the war by the Pakistani army and their local collaborators.
Prosecution lawyers had earlier said Ali had exhausted all efforts to influence his trial on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 war.
They claimed Ali made a $25 million deal with US lobby firm Cassidy and Associates for engaging with the governments of the US and Bangladesh to protect "his interest".
During the appeal hearing against his death sentence the state-side submitted to the court a receipt issued by the US lobby firm for what it said "professional service".
The evidence suggested that in March, 2014, another deal worth of $50,000 was struck with the same lobby firm on Ali's behalf for "condemning" the actions of the International Crimes Tribunal-Bangladesh.
Three top Jamaat leaders and one BNP stalwart have been so far hanged since the war crimes trial process began six years ago while two others died in prison of old age.
