Dhaka: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami called a dawn-to-dusk hartal for Wednesday protesting Supreme Court’s order that upheld death penalty for its leader Mir Quasem Ali rejecting final appeal to overturn the death sentence.

A press release issued by the party’s acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman in its website said shutdown in a peaceful manner will be observed from 6:00am.

However, the released read, ambulance and dead body carrying vehicles, hospital and fire service will be out of hartal range.

Earlier, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty handed down to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali for his crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971.

A five-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha issued the verdict at about 9:04am on Tuesday.

Earlier on Sunday, the Appellate Division fixed 30 August for passing the verdict after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and defence.

On 24 August, the bench adjourned the hearing on the petition till 28 August.

The bench was scheduled to hear the petition on July 25 but it deferred the hearing until August 24 upon a petition filed by the defence seeking its adjournment for two months.

On 20 June, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foez Siddique fixed 25 July for hearing the plea following a petition filed by the state.

On 19 June, Barrister Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem, filed a 68-page review petition with the Appellate Division seeking acquittal of the war criminal.

The SC released the full text of its verdict upholding the death penalty awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) 2 to Mir Quasem Ali for the crimes he committed against humanity during the Liberation War on 6 June.

On 8 March, the Appellate Division upheld the death penalty for Mir Quasem Ali for his war crimes.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) 2 sentenced Mir Quasem Ali, Al-Badr chief in the port city of Chittagong in 1971, to death on 2 November, 2014.

On 30 November, 2014, he filed an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the death penalty.

Top Jamaat-e-Islami financier Quasem, was president of the Chittagong town unit of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, till 6 November, 1971.

He was then made general secretary of the East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha.

Five opposition leaders including four leading Jamaat-e-Islami leaders have already been executed for war crimes since 2013. They were hanged just days after their appeals were rejected by the Supreme Court.