Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla’s request to keep out two judges from his trial has now been turned down by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain issued the verdict on Tuesday.
Molla’s lawyer Jainul Abebin had moved a petition on Apr 3 asking the Appellate Division keep out Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury from being involved in his trial.
The petition alleged that Justice Sinha was involved in the Skype controversy which led to Justice Nizamul Huq’s resignation from the first war crimes tribunal.
It said Justice Shamsuddin had demanded the hanging of war criminals in a speech he delivered last year at a London conference of the ‘Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee’, which is an anti-Jamaat group asking for death penalty for war criminals.
But the verdict of the four-member bench ruled on Tuesday that it saw no merit in the petition moved on behalf of Abdul Quader Molla.
Molla’s lawyer Jainul Abebin had moved a petition on Apr 3 asking the Appellate Division keep out Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury from being involved in his trial.
The petition alleged that Justice Sinha was involved in the Skype controversy which led to Justice Nizamul Huq’s resignation from the first war crimes tribunal.
It said Justice Shamsuddin had demanded the hanging of war criminals in a speech he delivered last year at a London conference of the ‘Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee’, which is an anti-Jamaat group asking for death penalty for war criminals.
But the verdict of the four-member bench ruled on Tuesday that it saw no merit in the petition moved on behalf of Abdul Quader Molla.
Abdul Quader Molla was awarded a life sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal on Feb 5 after one of the charges against him related to crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War could not be proved.
The state appealed on Mar 3 for his death penalty as five other charges of serious crimes against humanity had been conclusively established by the prosecution. On the other hand, Molla’s lawyers appealed for his acquittal the next day. The Appellate Division is supposed to dispose off the appeal within 60 days of its filing.
After inducting four new judges into the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division on Mar 31, the Chief Justice constituted two benches to hear the appeals.
He heads one of the benches with five other judges, including Justice Sinha and Justice Shamsuddin, in it. Abdul Quader Molla’s appeal is being heard by this bench.
Of the six charges brought against Molla in the war crimes tribunal, five were conclusively proved and he was let off in one because the judges said the prosecution had failed to prove the charge.
He was sentenced for life on two of those charges and to sixteen years imprisonment in two others.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment