The Bangladesh Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence of senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed for killing nation’s top intellectuals during nation’s liberation war in 1971.
Mojaheed, a top leader of the Al-Badr killing squad during the liberation war was convicted for planning and executing mass murders including those of intellectuals, scientists, academics and journalists during the war.
In July 2013, he was found guilty by a war crimes tribunal of five charges out of seven against him and given the death penalty on three charges. The apex court’s judgment was greeted with celebratory embraces and handshakes outside the courtroom.
Mojaheed is the fourth war crimes convict whose case has been resolved by the top court after the historic trials were started in 2010.
A copy of the verdict will now be sent to the tribunal which will issue a death warrant. The defence can ask for a review 15 days within the publication of the Supreme Court verdict.
Two Jamaat leaders — assistance secretary general Kamaruzzaman in April this year and Abdul Quader Molla in December 2013 — have been executed on war crimes so far.
