Ganajagaran Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarker has expressed satisfaction at the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the death penalty for war criminal Mir Quasem Ali.

An Appellate Division bench handed down the judgment on Tuesday.

Ganajagaran Mancha, a platform that campaigns for war crimes trials, took out a procession on Dhaka University campus to hail the verdict.

“We are happy that the Appellate Division upheld Mir Quasem’s death sentence awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal. This is what we expected,” Sarker told the press after the procession.

“This infamous collaborator used to control the financial institutions of Jamaat-e-Islami. He was conspiring against the verdict using his money and influence.”

Quasem was the third most important functionary after Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid in the Al-Badr force in 1971.

He is a founding member of Islami Bank Foundation, former chairman of Diganta Media Corporation and former board member of Ibn Sina Trust.

His funding helped the Jamaat secure a strong foothold in independent Bangladesh.

Early last year, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Quasem to death for the killing of young freedom fighter Jashim Uddin Ahmed and eight others and to 72 years in prison for acts of abduction and torture.

Media reports accused him of hiring international lobbyists to impede the war crimes trials.

“This verdict once again proved that court makes no compromises in punishing criminals no matter how powerful they are,” said Sarker.

bdnews24.com/TF