Appeals of six war criminals are still pending in the top court with the apex court hearing the case of death-row convict Delowar Hossain Sayedee who lodged an appeal on March 28 against the judgement of February 28 by the war crimes tribunal.
There is a little chance for the other cases to be heard with the top court adopting the policy of disposing of the cases one by one.
Since the inception of war crimes trial in January 2010, two tribunals have already delivered verdicts on nine cases since January 21 this year.
Excepting two cases the seven others were challenged in the Appellate Division.
The International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 states that the government and the defence can appeal to the Appellate Division within 30 days of the verdict pronounced by the tribunals.
Death-row convict Jamaat leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman appealed against the verdict on June 6.
Former Jamaat Chief Ghulam Azam was given 90 years’ imprisonment considering his old age and heath though the tribunal judges said he had deserved death sentence.
The convict filed appeal on August 5 for acquittal while the government also filed an appeal a week later seeking death penalty.
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, the Jamaat secretary general, filed appeal on August 11 against the capital punishment handed down to him.
Death-row convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, member of the BNP standing committee, lodged an appeal on October 28 against the verdict of October 1 while Abdul Alim, former BNP minister, filed an appeal on November 7 against the verdicts that sentenced him to death.
Meanwhile, fugitive Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar, a former Jamaat-e-Islami member, did not appeal against the death sentence he was given on January 21 by the tribunal.
He has been absconding since the issuance of a warrant of arrest against him.
In addition, two absconding al-Badr leaders Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who were given death penalty on November 3 for killing intellectuals on the eve of independence, also did not lodge appeals.
The trio could not appeal against the death sentence as the stipulated timeframe is over, and if they are caught they have to walk to the gallows.
