Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed was responsible for the killing of intellectuals including noted journalist Serajuddin Hossain in 1971, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the Supreme Court yesterday.

Mojaheed was leader of the anti-independence Al Badr force and Islami Chhatra Sangha, then student wing of Jamaat, and his speeches had incited the collaborators to commit crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, he said.

The attorney general was placing arguments before the apex court during the eighth day's hearing on Mojaheed's appeal against the death sentence he was given by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 for crimes against humanity in 1971.

Arguing on another charge, he said Ranjit Nath, a civilian, was confined and tortured in Faridpur in 1971 at the direction of Mojaheed, and the five-year prison sentence the Jamaat leader was given for this was lenient. Ranjit survived death.

The attorney general is expected to 

continue placing arguments today. 

Earlier in the day, Mojaheed's lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain finished placing arguments, claiming innocence of his client and saying the prosecution had failed to prove all charges brought against him at the tribunal.

He said the ICT-2 sentenced Mojaheed only because he was a leader of the Al Badar and Chhatra Sangha, and the sentencing was not lawful.

Khandker Mahbub also said the prosecution witnesses against Mojaheed were at the tender age, biased and evasive, and their statements were unbelievable; so the conviction and sentencing should be scrapped. ICT-2 sentenced Mojaheed to death for abducting and killing journalist Serajuddin, and merged this offence with the charge of killing intellectuals and professionals.