The Bangladesh Supreme Court today commuted the death sentence of Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to imprisonment till death for his crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.
A five-member bench of the apex court, headed by the Chief Justice Mohammad Muzammel Hossain, pronounced the verdict at 10.06 a.m. by majority view amid tight security, reports the Daily Star.
However, the chief justice did not disclose the names of the judges who gave different opinions over the judgment of the 74-year-old Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer.
Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam, the additional, deputy and assistant AGs, prosecutors and defence counsels and a good number of journalists were present at the Supreme Court Appellate Division Court-1 when the verdict was pronounced.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on February 28 last year sentenced Sayedee to death for killing Ibrahim Kutti and one Bisa Bali in Pirojpur in 1971, even though it had found him guilty on eight charges filed against him.
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On March 28 last year, Sayedee filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking acquittal on all charges. The same day, the government submitted a separate appeal seeking Sayedee's punishment on all the eight charges.
The other charges Sayedee was convicted of include his association with Pakistani soldiers to abduct three women and rape them, torturing people, looting and setting fire to the houses of Hindus, forcing them convert to Islam in Pirojpur, and forcing them to leave the country in 1971.
After the SC verdict, Imran Siddique, a counsel for Sayedee, said they will file a review petition with the apex court seeking his client's acquittal of all the charges once they get the copy of full judgment.
Activists of the Jamaat and the pro-Jamaat student body Islami Chhatra Shibir have been protesting this week against their leader's continued incarceration.
There are others who have also staged protests demanding capital punishment for the Jamaat leader.
