- Death upheld in 4 charges

- 20yrs upheld in 2 charges

- Acquittal over Satish Chandra killing

- 5 yrs upheld for killing 2

Bangladesh's top court today upheld the death penalty for BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for the crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha pronounced the verdict within a short span of time after 9:00am this morning. Grounds of the judgment could not be known since the full text was not released yet.

Also READ: Death to SQ Chy

The appeal verdict is mostly unchanged from that delivered by a war crimes tribunal two years ago except that SQ Chowdhury was acquitted of murdering Satish Chandra Palit – the charge for which he was given 20 years in prison.

READ more: Son testifies on father's killing

The verdict drew appreciation from Attorney General Mahbubey Alam while defence and family of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury have said they will move a review against the verdict.

SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT

Death upheld in four charges: involvement in killing of Nutan Chandra Singha, Awami League leader Mozaffar Ahmed and his son, and two incidents of genocide in Raozan.

READ more: The 23 Charges

Twenty years of jail term upheld for two charges: acts of genocide at Madhya Gohira Hindu Para, acts of genocide, persecution and deportation at Jagotmallo para. Acquittal over Satish Chandra Palit killing in Raozan of Chittagong.

Five years of prison upheld in abducting, confining and torturing Saleh Uddin, who later became vice-chairman of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, and Nizamuddin Ahmed, who later became a journalist.

He remained acquitted of 14 other charges originally brought by the prosecution.

BACKGROUND

This is the fifth time the Appellate Division of the SC has delivered a verdict on an appeal against a tribunal's judgment.

The three other judges of the bench are Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

On July 7, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by the chief justice fixed today for delivering the verdict on the appeal after hearing it for 13 days.

On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 found the BNP leader Salauddin, now 66, guilty of nine of the 23 charges brought against him for committing crimes against humanity.

The BNP leader on October 29, 2013 appealed to the SC against the verdict seeking acquittal on all charges.

Law enforcers arrested Salauddin on December 16, 2010, at Banani in the capital in connection with torching a car in Moghbazar on June 26.

He was shown arrested on December 19 following a warrant issued by the tribunal.