Mir Quasem seeks acquittal

War crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali has moved the Supreme Court (SC) against his death sentence for war crimes. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader’s counsel Shishir Mohammad Monir said they had submitted the appeal documents to the SC on Sunday. Mir Quasem Ali, founding president of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, was sentenced to death by International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on November 2. He was convicted on 8 charges but got the maximum penalty for two – the killing of freedom fighter ‘Jashim’ along with five unidentified others and the murders of Ranjit Das and Tuntun Sen. He was given a total of 72 years in prison on 8 other charges. Defence counsel Monir said they had sought acquittal on 181 points and submitted 1,750 pages of documents along with the 150-page main appeal. ‘We believe the Appellate Division will acquit Mir Quasem,’ he said, according to a news agency.