SC hears review petitions today

The Supreme Court is set to hear today two petitions of condemned war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury seeking review of its judgments that upheld death penalties for them.

The pleas have been included on the day's hearing list of the four-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, according to the SC website.

Meanwhile, a High Court bench yesterday refused to hear a writ petition filed by Salauddin's wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury challenging the constitutional provision that allows trial of an individual for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. 

In the petition submitted to the HC on November 2, she also challenged the legality of the appointments of the first three judges to the International Crimes Tribunal-1 which dealt with her husband's war crimes case.

Farhat prayed to the HC to declare the appointments of the three judges illegal. She claimed that the provision of the 15th constitutional amendment, which allows trial of individuals for committing crimes against humanity, conflicts with a provision of the original constitution which stipulated that the accused will be put on trial as a group of individuals.

Yesterday, the HC bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Farid Ahmed Shibli dropped the petition from its hearing list, saying that the issues mentioned in the prayer have already been settled by the HC.

The Appellate Division has already delivered a judgment on the appeal of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury in the war crimes case, the bench said, adding that time will be wasted if the writ petition is entertained at this stage.

The court told petitioner's counsel Mohsen Rashid that he could move the writ petition before another HC bench.     

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mojaheed and BNP's Salauddin on October 14 submitted the review petitions to the SC, seeking acquittal on all the charges levelled against them.

In the petitions, the two sought reconsideration of the SC judgments on the ground that they were sentenced for “offences committed by others”.

The SC upheld the capital punishment of the two politicians in June and July after hearing their appeals against the verdicts of two war crimes tribunals.

The International Crimes Tribunal issued death warrants for the two on October 1, a day after the SC released its full verdicts.