SC to hear review petitions on Sayedee’s war crimes verdict on May 14

The Supreme Court has fixed May 14 for hearing the two review petitions filed regarding the verdict of war crimes convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha fixed the date Thursday afternoon. Sayedee, known as “Deilya Razakar” in 1971, was given the death penalty on February 28, 2013 after the war crimes tribunal found him guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. He was sentenced to death for killing Ibrahim Kutti and one Bisa Bali in Pirojpur. The tribunal did not deliver sentence on the six other proven charges. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader appealed against the tribunal verdict seeking acquittal while the state pleaded for sentence on the six other proven charges. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on September 17, 2014 awarded imprisonment till natural death to Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee, modifying the verdict given by International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 more than 18 months ago. The full verdict was published on December 31, 2015. According to the rules, a review petition has to be filed within 15 days after the full verdict is published.