The court sentenced Mir Kasem Ali to death for crimes against humanity

The Dhaka Times Desk The International Criminal Tribunal-II sentenced Mir Kasem Ali, the member of Jamaat Karma Parishad and chairman of Digant Media Corporation, to death in the case of crimes against humanity.

The International Criminal Tribunal-II sentenced Mir Kasem Ali, a member of Jamaat Karma Parishad and chairman of Digant Media Corporation, to death in the case of crimes against humanity. The 3-member bench headed by Justice Obaidul Hasan, chairman of the International Criminal Tribunal-II, delivered this judgment on Sunday.

10 out of 12 charges leveled against Mir Kasem were proved. Out of these, he was sentenced to death by consensus on 1 charge and by majority opinion on the other. The rest of the charges carried various terms of imprisonment.

This judgment was announced by the International Criminal Tribunal-2 under the leadership of Justice Obaidul Hasan at around 11:30 on Sunday. Through this verdict, a total of 11 cases of crimes against humanity were announced. At 10.55 pm, the reading of the 351-page summary and 11-page judgment began. This judgment was read by the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Obaidul Hasan. At this time, Mir Kasem Ali was present in the tribunal.

On May 4, the arguments of the accused ended. Since then the verdict was kept pending and the case (CAV) was declared by the tribunal. His lawyer Barrister Tanveer Ahmed Al Amin concluded his arguments on behalf of Mir Kashem Ali. Then the counter argument was presented by the prosecution. Before that, lawyer Mizanul Islam also presented his arguments. On the other hand, on April 27 and 28, Zeyad Al Malum, Sultan Mahmud Seeman and Barrister Turin Afroz presented their arguments on behalf of the state. After the presentation of the arguments of both sides, the court ordered that the case will be announced on any day. Last Thursday, the court gave the date of announcing the verdict today.

How the case started

On May 6 of last year, Jamaat leader Mir Kasem Ali submitted 14 charges of murder, genocide, torture of women, arson, looting and other crimes against humanity after finalizing the investigation and submitting it for prosecution. On May 16, the prosecution team submitted a formal complaint to the tribunal on 14 charges.

Tribunal-1 took cognizance of the complaint against Mir Kasem on 26 May 2013. On June 17 of the same year, the tribunal issued an arrest warrant against Mir Kasem Ali. That afternoon, he was arrested from the Daily Naya Digant office (Digant Media Corporation) in Motijheel and produced before the tribunal. Later the tribunal ordered him to be sent to jail.

On September 5 of the same year, the International Criminal Tribunal-1 framed charges against Mir Kasem Ali. The case was then transferred to the Second Tribunal on 30 September.

Later, on November 18, 2013, the opening statement of the state was presented against Mir Kasem Ali. Testimony against him began on December 11. On May 4 of this year, the International Criminal Tribunal-2 waited for the announcement of the verdict after presenting arguments.