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1st LD Writethru: Bangladesh's supreme court upholds top opposition leaders' death sentences

Xinhua, November 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Bangladesh's highest court on Wednesday rejected appeals from two opposition leaders against their death sentences for crimes against humanity during the country's war of independence in 1971.

A four-member Appellate Division bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, dismissed the review petitions of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, secretary general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told journalists shortly after the apex court ruling that that there was no legal bar to execute condemned Mujahid and Chowdhury, unless they sought presidential pardon.

As per procedure, sources said death-row war criminals would be given time to talk to their lawyers to consult whether they would seek presidential clemency.

Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, principal counsel for both Mujahid and Chowdhury, told journalists that they would seek a chance to authorities of the Dhaka Central Jail where they have been kept, to meet their clients.

The opposition leaders filed final review petitions with the Supreme Court on Oct. 14 against its verdict that upheld their death sentences.

Jail authorities said earlier that they were ready to carry out the executions.

After returning to power in January 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, established the first tribunal in March 2010, almost 40 years after the 1971 fight for independence from Pakistan.

Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, a Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party leader convicted of war crimes, was executed in April, the second execution for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 war.

Another Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla, also convicted of war crimes, was executed on Dec. 12, 2013.

Both BNP and Jamaat have dismissed the court as a government "show trial" and said it was a domestic set-up without the oversight or involvement of the United Nations.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh was called East Pakistan until 1971. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said about 3 million people were killed in the 9-month war. Endit