War crimes: Jamaat’s moneyman Quasem hanged

Mir Quasem Ali, Jamaat-e-Islami’s key financier and a notorious Al-Badr leader of Chittagong during 1971, has been hanged for crimes committed against humanity during the Liberation War.

The 63-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami leader was hanged from the noose at 10:30pm, Proshanto Kumar Banik, senior jail superintendent of Kashimpur Central Jail, told journalists at jail gate.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has also confirmed the execution to The Daily Star.

- Body to be buried in Manikganj

- First war trial execution outside Dhaka

- 6th war criminal hanged after 45yrs of independence

This is the first time a war criminal has been executed at the Kashimpur jail and outside Dhaka. Quasem will be buried in his ancestral home in Manikganj’s Chala village.

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Earlier, five top war criminals were hanged for wartime atrocities. They included four leaders of the Jamaat – the party that opposed Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971 – and a BNP leader.

ALSO READ: Profile of Mir Quasem

The executive order for execution reached prison authorities around 4:45pm, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting Nashir Ahmed, a jailor of Kashimpur Central Jail-2.

The executive order for Quasaem’s execution reached prison authorities around 4:45pm, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting Nashir Ahmed, a jailor of Kashimpur Central Jail-2.

Side by side, family of Mir Quasem was told to meet him for the last time. They went to Kashimpur and met Quasem from 4:15pm to 5:55pm, Prashanta Kumar Banik, had told The Daily Star.

Afterwards, all officials concerned began entering the jail one by one. Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin and Gazipur Deputy Commissioner SM Alam witnessed the hanging.

District’s Civil Surgeon Ali Haider Khan checked the pulse to confirm death.

Yesterday, Mir Quasem turned down – for the final time – the last straw to save him from the gallows – a presidential mercy. His execution was imminent from that moment.

After trial in the International Crimes Tribunal, an appeal in the Supreme Court and a review against apex court’s verdict, Quasem was hanged for one charge - the killing of freedom fighter Jasim Uddin at Dalim Hotel in Chittagong.