The government is preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court against the "inadequate" sentencing of war crimes convict Ghulam Azam.

On July 15, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced the former Jamaat chief to 90 years in jail for masterminding crimes against humanity, genocide and other war crimes during the Liberation War.

In the verdict, it had said Ghulam Azam deserved the death penalty but he was given jail terms considering his old age and poor health.

As for the appeal, Additional Attorney General and Chief Coordinator of the war crimes prosecution team MK Rahman claimed that the Tribunal-1 had acted beyond the law by not awarding the death penalty to Ghulam Azam even

FROM PAGE 16 though all the charges brought against him were proved beyond reasonable doubt.

He claimed that the tribunal had considered old age and poor health of Ghulam Azam while giving him his punishment, which the law did not allow.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam did not say why the government had decided to appeal when several key figures of the government had expressed their satisfaction with the tribunal's judgment on Ghulam Azam.

He, however, said the appeal would be filed under the amended provisions of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, which allowed the government to appeal against "inadequate" punishment given by war crimes tribunals.

August 14 is the last date for the government to file the appeal.

On August 5, Ghulam Azam filed his appeal with the apex court seeking an overturn of his conviction and the 90-year jail sentence he received from the tribunal.

In his appeal, Ghulam Azam said in the eye of the law, the tribunal judgment was not a verdict at all since there had been nothing related to offences or crimes against humanity and genocide in the charges brought against him.