War crimes trial campaigners are dissatisfoed with the verdict against Sayedee, saying the judgement had failed to reflect people’s wish. They said it could neither be denied nor accepted and termed the situation a “dilemma.”
Muntassir Mamoon, vice-president of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, inquired could people tell before the verdict that they knew what the court would do. Expressing disappointment, Mamoon, also a professor of history at Dhaka University, said the process might have been influenced.
“We have to obey the verdict, but we are angry, hurt and disappointed,” he said, adding that the ghatak dalal nirmul committee held a similar view.
“The judges are very merciful. I think they were not in the country in 1971; so they were able to show mercy,” he said. Mamoon claimed that the verdict would be a curse for the government in the future.
Minutes before the verdict, Dr Anwar Hossain, a freedom fighter and former VC of Jahangirnagar University, had told media that people were expecting the highest punishment as the crimes were “common knowledge.”
In his immediate reaction, Anwar – who was present at courtroom – said the judges did not consider people’s wishes while delivering the verdict against Sayedee, who had “certainly committed war crimes” in 1971.
“We expected that the death sentence would be upheld; but that did not happen and this will result in frustration among people as their expectations did not come true... Earlier, we have been hurt many times, and the verdict will be added to that list,” he added.
On the other hand, Akku Chowdhury, a trustee of Liberation War Museum, said: “We need to rethink 1971. What a shame! What can the martyrs do but be gloomy and dark?”
