Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami leader and media tycoon, Mir Quasem Ali was executed last night for war crimes committed during the country’s 1971 Liberation War.
Ali, widely considered as the top financier of the Jamaat, was hanged at the high-security Kashimpur Central Jail in the outskirts of Dhaka. The execution came after he refused to seek presidential clemency.
Ali is the sixth Jamaat leader to be executed for war crimes. Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was executed nearly four months ago.
Earlier in the afternoon Kashimpur prison officials received the “executive order” to hang Ali while Dhaka’s district magistrate and civil surgeon were served copies as procedures require their presence during the execution.
Authorities late yesterday called out 10 platoon paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops to patrol Dhaka streets and secure the jail complex as the execution hour appears to be nearing.
Elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and armed policemen installed makeshift street check posts in several areas of the city apparently to prevent any possible sabotage coinciding with the execution.
The country yesterday virtually started countdown for the execution as Quasem eventually declined to seek presidential mercy as the last resort to save his neck after the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court rejected his final review petition earlier this week.
A senior leader and key financer of Jamaat-e-Islami, Quasem’s decision came as he previously sought time to make the crucial decision.
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) originally handed Ali down the death penalty on November 2, 2014 for committing crimes against humanity siding with Pakistani troops during 1971 Liberation War when Jamaat was opposed to the country’s independence. Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami was the last condemned war criminal to be hanged on May 10 this year.