Dhaka: Hours after the delivery of its judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon released the full text of the verdict rejecting the review pleas of condemned war crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali.

The written text was released after a five-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, signed the copy of the verdict turning down the review petition against its earlier order upholding Mir Quasem’s death sentence for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, reports UNB.

A copy of the 29-page verdict is scheduled to reach the International Crimes Tribunal by today, said additional SC registrar Arunav Chakrawarty.

Later, the ICT will send the copy to the jail where authorities concerned will read it out to Mir Quasem and ask him whether he would seek presidential clemency.

Earlier in the morning, the five-member Appellate Division bench upheld the death penalty for war criminal Mir Quasem Ali.

Talking to reporters after the verdict, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said now the only option left for Mir Quasem is to seek presidential clemency.

‘If the Jamaat-e-Islami leader seeks presidential mercy, the government will act as per the President’s decision and if he does not file any mercy petition, the government will take necessary steps to execute the verdict anytime,’ he said.

There is no time limitation about executing the verdict and there is no provision either, he said.

Meanwhile, condemned war criminal Mir Quasem Ali, now at Kashimpur Central Jail-2, listened to the verdict rejecting his review petition on radio at about 10:30am, said Nasir Ahmed, a jailer.

On 19 June, Barrister Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem, filed the 68-page review petition with the Appellate Division against the death penalty handed down to him for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued death warrant for Mir Quasem hours after the apex court released the full text of its verdict upholding his death penalty 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-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, now 64, 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.