B'desh top court upholds life term for cleric over war crimes

Bangladesh's apex court on Monday upheld the life sentence given to a Islamist preacher for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War by siding with Pakistani troops. The Supreme Court dismissed both the pleas filed by the state and defence and stood by its earlier judgement to jail war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, 77, until his death, bdnews24.com reported.A five-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdict today after a two-day hearing, the report said. Both the state and the defence had filed petitions seeking a review of the Supreme Court's verdict in 2014.The state wanted a death sentence while the defence pushed for an acquittal.

The trial of Sayedee began at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in 2011 and a verdict was pronounced in 2013. Of the 20 charges against him, Sayedee was given the death sentence for two — the murders of Ibrahim Kutti and Bisabali, and for setting fire to Hindu households in Pirojpur in 1971. The Supreme Court verdict, delivered in 2014, sentenced Sayedee on five charges of the 20 that were framed against him. The verdict reduced Sayedee's death sentence for Ibrahim Kutti's murder to imprisonment for 12 years. In its second appeal verdict in a war crimes case, the apex court sentenced Sayedee to prison until death for three charges.