Prosecution for upholding SQ Chy\\\'s death penalty

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam demanded on Wednesday that the death penalty awarded to war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury be upheld for his crimes against humanity perpetrated during the Liberation War in 1971, reports UNB.

He made the plea before a four-member Appellate Division (AD) bench after closing the law-point arguments of the prosecution.

"We've placed before the AD the evidence of the massacre Salauddin Quader Chowdhury unleashed in Chittagong during the Liberation War in 1971 in cooperation with the Pakistani occupation forces and his own forces," the Attorney General told reporters after placing the arguments.

He said they told the apex court that the International Crimes Tribunal-1 awarded death sentence to the BNP leader on four charges although he deserved the capital punishment on seven charges. "We've demanded that the capital punishment be upheld for him," he said.

On Tuesday, the prosecution started placing the arguments before the four-member AD bench, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, on the appeal filed by condemned convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury challenging the death penalty handed down to him for his war crimes.

The other judges of the bench are Justice Najmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

Meanwhile, the defence will start placing their arguments on Sunday. Advocate SM Shahjahan stood for the BNP leader.

On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 found Salauddin Quader Chowdhury guilty of crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation and condemned him to death.