Condemned convict Mir Quasem files appeal

Condemned convict and Jamaat policymaker Mir Quasem Ali filed an appeal Sunday with the Supreme Court challenging the death penalty awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 for his crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971, report agencies.
Mir Quasem's lawyer Shishir Muhammad Monir said they submitted the plea with the Appellate Division seeking acquittal of the charges.
Emerging from the court he told journalists that the appeal was submitted showing 181 reasons. A total of 1,755 pages containing different information were attached with the 150-page appeal, he said.
Convicting detained Mir Quasem Ai on charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, during the War of Liberation, the ICT-2 on November 2 unanimously sentenced him to death.
The tribunal handed down the capital punishment to Quasem on similar two counts of charges of abetting and facilitating the commission of the offences of murder as crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation.
Besides, the tribunal sentenced the war criminal, the Chittagong unit president of the then Islami Chhatra Sangha (ICS) in 1971, to different jail terms totalling 72 years on eight counts of offences like abduction, confinement and torture to freedom fighters and freedom-loving unarmed civilians.