DHAKA: Bangladesh’s highest court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali.
The controversial war crimes tribunal had sentenced Mir Quasem Ali over his alleged involvement of war crimes in 1971. Chief Justice SK Sinha announced in the Supreme Court that he had dismissed the appeal of Mir Quasem Ali.
“The court upheld his death sentence for the abduction and murder of a young freedom fighter whose body was dumped in a river,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the media.
Defence lawyers say the charges against Ali were “baseless and false”, and they argued he was not at the crime scenes during the war.
Three senior Jamaat officials and a leader of the main opposition party have been executed since December 2013 for war crimes, despite global criticism of their trials by a controversial war crimes tribunal.
The executions and previous convictions against other Jamaat officials plunged the country into one of its worst crises in 2013.
Tens of thousands of Islamist activists have clashed with police in nationwide protests that left some 500 people dead.
Jamaat and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party have accused the government of using the war crimes court to target their leaders through phoney charges.
Rights groups have also criticized the trials, saying they fall short of international standards and lack any foreign oversight.
