Dhaka: Two ministers at a roundtable discussion in Dhaka on Saturday criticised Chief Justice SK Sinha for his reported remarks that ‘the prosecution is doing politics with the trial of condemned war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh leader Mir Quasem Ali.

Earlier, during the hearing of arguments on death row war criminal Mir Quasem Ali’s review petition on 23 February, the chief justice purportedly expressed dissatisfaction over the activities of the prosecution and the investigation agency.

Talking to reporters after the hearing, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said as some irrelevances were found during the appeal hearing, the court expressed the dissatisfaction.

The prosecution and the investigation agency have failed to exhibit the skills and dedication, he observed adding that the witnesses they produced before the court were exposed to the media in no time.

‘Are you playing politics with these sitting in the prosecution?’ the chief justice questioned during the hearing.

Meanwhile, concluding the hearing on Mir Quasem’s review petition death sentence, the Supreme Court on 24 February set 8 March for delivering its verdict on the appeal.

Addressing a roundtable held at BILIA auditorium in the city’s Dhanmondi area on Saturday, Food Minister Md Kamrul Islam expressed his dissatisfaction over Chief Justice SK Sinha’s remarks, saying ‘we can assume what would be the verdict on this case (of Mir Quasem Ali) through the remarks made by the Chief Justice openly at the court’.

The roundtable was organised by Ekatorrer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee.

Noting that an allegation against the prosecution eventually stands as an allegation against the state and the government, the minister said the chief justice has spoken in tandem with BNP-Jamaat and their international lobbyist group in this connection.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said, ‘(I) would request the chief justice… withdraw your statement. Or else, (I) would let him judge how much scope there is for him to stay in the post.’

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Muntasir Mamun of Dhaka University noted that the judges of the International Crimes Tribunal had already given their verdict based on the information by the prosecution and the investigation agency, and the chief justice’s remarks against the prosecution also go against the judges.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction at the prosecution and the investigation agency of the War Crimes Tribunal.

On 9 February, the Appellate Division started hearing the appeal filed by condemned war criminal Mir Quasem Ali challenging the death penalty.  

Mir Quasem Ali on 30 November 2014 filed the appeal with the SC challenging the death penalty awarded to him by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.  

On 2 November in the same year, the tribunal had condemned Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali to death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.