Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday dismissed two review petitions filed against its verdict that commuted the death sentence of the war crimes convict Delawar Hossain Sayedee to imprisonment till death. Following the apex court order, all legal procedures relating to Sayedee’s war crimes case have been ended and the top Jamaat leader will have to stay in prison until his natural death. After concluding hearing on the petitions, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the Chief Justice, dismissed the petitions. “The petitions are dismissed with expunction of some observations,” it observed. Both the prosecution and the defence expressed their dissatisfaction over the verdict, as the court did not change its previous verdict in accordance with their petitions.
One of the petitions, filed by the government, sought the death penalty for Sayedee, while another, filed by Sayedee himself, sought that the Jamaat leader be acquitted of all charges.
In an immediate reaction, Masud Sayedee, son of the Jamaat leader, expressed his dissatisfaction at the verdict. He claimed that the witnesses' accounts amply proved that his father was not involved in any crimes. “We submitted all documents and clarified all mistakes that had taken place in the previous verdict. But the court didn't evaluate the documents properly,” he said.
“We've been deprived of justice. My father didn't commit any crime to deserve punishment even for a single day,” he added. Chief defence lawyer Khandakar Mahbub Hossain told reporters that they hoped that the apex court would acquit Sayedee of all charges after considering all relevant documents. He, however, said that every one must abide by the apex court verdict despite their grievances. Attorney general Mahbubey Alam told reporters that capital punishment for the Jamaat leader could not be ensured due to the failure of prosecutors and investigators. “Sayedee is a top war criminal. But he couldn’t be given capital punishment due to the lack of proper evidence,” he said.
“We’ll always feel the pain that the top war criminal couldn’t be punished properly because of the failure of the prosecution and investigation teams,” he expressed regret.
Earlier in the morning, the attorney general placed his arguments before the court, praying that the death penalty for Sayedee be upheld for committing atrocities during the Liberation War in 1971.
The Chief Justice pointedly told the AG that he himself had gone to Pirojpur and Barisal for receiving the documents of the case. Had the investigation agency and the prosecution team been more careful in placing case documents, the judgment would have been in their favour, he said.
Justice Abdul Wahhab Miah wanted to know from the AG whether any court in the world awarded the death penalty by revising life- term imprisonment following a review petition. There is no such instance, he told the AG.
“You (AG) are the principal lawyer of the state. You’ve some responsibilities. You must place arguments before the court in such a way that no innocent people get punished following your submission,” the Chief Justice said to the AG.
After that, the AG sought the death penalty for Sayedee, saying that the Jamaat leader was a commander during the War of Liberation in 1971. Later, the Chief Justice said that the court had awarded Sayedee to jail life unto death after considering all aspects of the case and related documents.
“It’d be better for you if you remain silent because the defence sought acquittal of Sayedee,” the Chief Justice told the AG.
After that, advocate M Amin Uddin, counsel for the prosecution team, told the court that his client prosecutor, Haider Ali, had submitted an application before the apex court and sought expunction of the Chief Justice’s statements on “the incapacity and incapability of the prosecution team” in relation to the Sayedee verdict.
Then, the Chief Justice said that the issue has already been intensively discussed. “I’m bound to say that some non-practising lawyers have become prosecutors to conduct war crimes cases. Some of them even went to meetings of the Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee. They have committed misconduct by attending those meetings. Prosecutors are public servants, but they don’t seem to understand the weight of the position of the public servant,” he added.
However, the apex court allowed the prosecution’s prayer as it would expunge some of its statements during the review verdict.
As per the Sayedee case history, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 had sentenced the Jamaat leader to death for war crimes on February 28, 2013. On March 28, 2013, Sayedee filed an appeal in the apex court, seeking acquittal from the eight charges against him. On the same day, the government appealed for capital punishment for the convict.
On September 17, 2014, the Appellate Division commuted Sayedee’s death sentence to imprisonment till death. On December 31, 2015, the SC released the full text of its verdict.
On January 12, 2016, the prosecution filed a review petition, seeking death penalty for the convicted Jamaat leader. On January 17, Sayedee filed a plea, seeking review of the SC verdict. In the petition, he sought acquittal on all the charges.
The SC’s Appellate Division has so far disposed of nine cases of crimes against humanity.
It has awarded death sentences to six war criminals—Abdul Quader Molla, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Motiur Rahman Nizami and Mir Quasem Ali. They have already been executed after all legal procedures were carried out.
The SC has also delivered judgment in the appeal petitions of Gulam Azam, Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Abdul Alim. The SC awarded prison till death to Gulam Azam, Sayedee and Abdul Alim. Gulam Azam and Alim died while serving their jail terms.
Apart from this, at least 15 cases are pending before the apex court relating to war crimes.
