The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has adjourned the appeal hearing of war criminal Mir Quasem Ali for four days.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice SK Sinha made the order on Wednesday following the end of second-day hearing.
On Monday, the bench would resume the hearing on the death sentence given to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Quasem by a special war crimes tribunal above one year ago.
Quasem, a commander of al-Badr in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War, was awarded capital punishment by the International Crimes Tribunal 2 on November 3, 2014.
The tribunal handed down death penalty on two charges – for killing seven people, including one Jasim Uddin, after abduction. He was also awarded a total of 72-year imprisonment on the eight other proven charges of abduction, conspiracy and planning.
All these sentences will, however, merge with the death sentence if “he be hanged by the neck till he is dead” after confirmation of the capital punishment by the Supreme Court.
Quasem appealed against the judgement on November 30, 2014 seeking acquittal.
The Jamaat leader, now 64, joined Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat, in 1967 while studying at Chittagong Collegiate School. He later became its Chittagong City unit general secretary. He played an important role in forming al-Badr Bahini and in carrying out torture and killings of freedom fighters and intellectuals at Daleem Hotel in the port city.
According to the government, Quasem has spent a large amount of money abroad to make the war crimes trials controversial.
