SC verdict on appeal of Shamsul Haque Nov 7

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) has set November 7 to deliver its verdict on an appeal filed by Shamsul Haque of Jamalpur challenging his sentence of 'jail terms until death' awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on charge of committing crimes during the Liberation War.

An Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan set the date as both prosecution and defense concluded their arguments in the case on Wednesday.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Assistant Attorney General M Saiful Alam appeared in the court proceedings representing the state, while lawyer SM Shahjahan and Ahsan A Siddiq stood for Shamsul Haque.

On July 18, 2016 ICT awarded death sentence to three accused in the case, and jail terms until death to five other accused, including Shamsul Haque alias Badar Bhai of Jamalpur, in a case.

According to the case documents, Shamsul Haque and other accused were charged with crimes like murder, mass murder, detention, kidnapping, torture and robbery during the Liberation War.

Md Ashraf Hossain, Md Abdul Mannan, and Md Abdul Bari were given death sentence by the tribunal. Life terms until death were given to Md Shamsul Haque alias Badar Bhai, SM Yusuf Ali, Sharif Ahammed, Harun, and Md Abul Hashem.

Only Shamsul Haque and Yusuf Ali were behind the bar during the announcement of the verdict. They were produced in the court on that day. The remaining accused were shown absconding.

Later Shamsul Haque and Yusuf Ali filed appeal petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against their sentence. Yusuf Ali in the meantime died while his appeal was pending in the SC. The apex court started appeal hearing of Shamsul Haque on July 12 this year.

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