Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee has appealed against his death penalty handed out by the war crimes tribunal.The state has decided to appeal for higher punishment for him on charges he was acquitted of.
Sayedee’s lawyers submitted the appeal to the Supreme Court with Zainul Abedin shown as advocate on record.
“We have challenged the verdict on 135 grounds and sought acquittal on all the eight charges for which he was given death penalty,” Sayedee’s lawyer Fariduddin Khan told bdnews24.com.
He said the appeal and its supporting documentation runs into 6500 pages.
The first war crimes tribunal headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir handed down death penalty to Dalwar Hossain Sayedee on Feb 28.
Justice Kabir said that eight of the 20 charges of crimes against humanity against Sayedee have been proved conclusively. Two of these charges pertained to mass murders.
The tribunal ordered Sayedee to be hanged until death. The tribunal ruled that the prosecution had successfully established the fact that Sayedee was a Razakar leader at Pirozpur during the 1971 liberation war.
Prosecutor Syed Haider Ali said Sayedee had been awarded death penalty on two counts of mass murder but no verdict was issued on six other charges that were proven against him.
He said there was sufficient evidence to prove his complicity in the 12 other charges but he was let off on those.
“The charges on which Sayedee was let off can be established and we will appeal for getting him highest punishment on those counts,” Haider Ali said.
