The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is set to deliver its final verdict today in the appeals case against top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, almost 18 months after the appeals were filed with the apex court.
It is the second appeal case in which the court is set to announce a judgement. It took five months to complete the hearing in Sayedee case whereas in the trial against Abdul Quader Molla it took only nine months to execute the final verdict after filing of the appeal.
On September 17 last year, the same bench handed down death penalty to Jamaat leader Quader Molla for his involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 War of Independence. Molla was executed on December 12.
Hailing from Pirojpur, Sayedee was handed down the death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal 1 on February 28 last year on two counts of crimes against humanity including for the killing of Ibrahim Kutti on May 8, 1971. The tribunal acquitted Sayedee from 12 other charges.
The tribunal desisted from giving sentences in six charges which were proved beyond reasonable doubt.
After the verdict, Sayedee filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on March 28 last year seeking acquittal from all the charges. The same day the government submitted a separate appeal demanding death for Sayedee in all the eight charges proved. On September 24, the apex court started hearing the appeals.
After concluding the hearing, the five-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain on April 16 kept the appeals case as CAV (Curia Advisari Vult), which means that the verdict will be delivered any day.
The other members are Justice SK Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury.
The Supreme Court’s website yesterday showed that the matter was on today’s cause list.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam who represented the state in the appeals case confirmed the matter. “Hopefully the convict will get death penalty.”
Asked about the opportunity to review against final verdict, he said: “It is already settled in the trial against Molla that in this matter no review is acceptable.”
Ahead of the verdict, a huge number of additional forces have been deployed on every major establishment across the country with special focus on Dhaka and Chittagong. Vigilance of intelligence agencies has also been increased. Special instructions were given to all the 56 check points and 16 police stations of the capital.
The security measures have been taken considering the violent reaction of Jamaat-Shibir men last year after the tribunal verdict against Sayedee.
In Chittagong, Border Guard Bangladesh personnel will be deployed from 6am today in 14 upazilas. Moreover, around 2,000 police members were positioned at 80 points of the port city to avert any violent agitation.
A key ally of the BNP-led alliance, Jamaat, however, did not announce any shutdown for the verdict day which they had done in the previous verdicts against party leaders.
At least 87 people including law enforcers were killed while thousands were injured across the country in attacks perpetrated by the Jamaat-Shibir men following the February 28 verdict in Sayedee case.
Jamaat supporters tried to spread propaganda through mosques’ loudspeakers that Sayedee was a holy figure and so his face was seen on the moon, in a bid to save Sayedee. People in Bogra and Chittagong came out of their houses after such announcements and set fire to government offices and attacked police stations in different areas.
A prosecution witness in the case named Mostafa Howlader succumbed to injuries on December 8 last year after he had been allegedly attacked by the Jamaat-Shibir men at his home in Pirojpur. The attack came within a week of withdrawing police protection from Mostafa’s house. Moreover, over 200 Jamaat-Shibir activists vandalised the house of plaintiff of the case and witness Mahbubul Alam Hawlader in Pirojpur on October 28.
Activists of Gonojagoron Moncho last evening staged a sit-in programme in Shahbagh intersection demanding death penalty for the war criminal. They are set to demonstrate at the same place again from this morning.
In the judgement, the tribunal stated that Sayedee used to sell oil-salt-onion at Parerhat Bazar in 1971 and was not economically stable but he could speak Urdu well. He was the man who had welcomed the Pakistani Army at Parerhat Bazar and formed local Peace Committee. He also actively participated in the atrocities committed by the Pakistani occupation forces and razakars against the pro-liberation people.
“This ordinary man one day became MP after he started his journey with Jamaat-e-Islami in 1979 as a general supporter. Sayedee is also known to all as a renowned Oazin. Though, he spread many types of provocation to establish anti-liberal position in society.”
During the appeals hearing, both the state and the defence placed long arguments over Sayedee’s identity.
Attorney General Mahbubey said in his submission: “The defence has talked about Delawar Mallick or Delawar Shikder. They tried to get our witnesses to talk on the issue during the cross-examinations. But our witnesses have not said this anywhere.”
On that other hand, chief defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain, also an adviser to the BNP chief, said: “The charges [brought against Sayedee] might be right. But Delawar Hossain Sayedee is not involved in these incidents. Delawar Sayedee has been charged instead of Delawar Shikder.”
After the end of hearing, Mahbubey prayed to the Appellate Division to affirm the tribunal verdict that sentenced Sayedee to death, saying all the charges against the convicted war criminal were proved beyond reasonable doubt.
