The apex court has set January 14 for commencing hearing in the appeal of war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujaheed, sentenced to death last year for committing crimes against humanity including the killing of intellectuals.
Mujaheed’s appeal was on top of the cause list of the five-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, yesterday.
The four other members of the bench are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury.
The Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general was given death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal 2 on July 17 last year. Of the five proven charges out of seven brought against him, Mujaheed was given capital punishment in two – for abetting and facilitating killing of intellectuals during the Liberation War and participating in and facilitating the murder of nine Hindu civilians in Faridpur.
He was acquitted in two other charges. He filed the appeal on August 11 last year seeking acquittal.
Supreme Court Bar Association President Khondaker Mahbub Hossain, also an adviser to the BNP chairperson, represented Mujaheed during yesterday’s hearing while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the state.
Mahbub mentioned that January was the month of change as the chief justice is supposed to go on retirement in the middle of the month. In his submission, the attorney general said the hearing could begin in December.
Chief Justice Muzammel then said: “You wanted the hearing to take place in December but the matter did not come to the cause list because of your lobbying. It came as a regular official report.”
He told the defence lawyer: “Everything is an ongoing process. It is a normal change...okay, we will think about both of your advantage and disadvantage.”