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SC verdict in Sayedee case today

Ashutosh Sarkar
All eyes are on the Supreme Court that is set to deliver today its verdict on the appeals in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, whose death
sentence triggered widespread violence by Jamaat-Shibir men last year.
The five-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, will sit at 9:00am, and pronounce the judgment at the beginning of today's court proceedings. The case is at the top of the court's cause list today.
The other four judges are - Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik.
This is the second time the apex court is delivering a verdict in a war crimes case.
On September 17 last year, the SC handed down death penalty to another Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Mollah, for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. Mollah was executed on December 12 lastyear.
On conclusion of the hearing that went on for 50 days, the SC on April 16 said it would deliver its verdict on the appeals any day.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on February 28 last year sentenced Sayedee to death for killing Ibrahim Kutti and Bisa Bali in Pirojpurin 1971. It found the Jamaat leader guilty on eight criminal charges.
On March 28 last year, Sayedee filed an appeal with the SC, seeking acquittal on all charges. The same day, the government lodged a separate appeal seeking Sayedee's punishment on the eight charges.
Both the state and the defence counsels yesterday expressed optimism that the apex court’s verdict would go in their favour.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam was hopeful that the SC would uphold the verdict of the ICT-1, as Sayedee was directly involved in the killing of Bisa Bali and Ibrahim Kutti in 1971.
"I have prayed to the Supreme Court to uphold the death sentence of Delawar Hossain Sayedee, considering the offences he committed during the Liberation War in 1971," he told The Daily Star.
Tajul Islam, a counsel for Sayedee, said the case proceedings against Sayedee were on amid the Skype controversy involving an ICT judge. Besides, Bisa Bali's brother Sukaranjan Bali was abducted from the tribunal premises at that time.
Sayedee was implicated in the killing of Bisa Bali. Two murder cases had been filed earlier over the incident, and Sayedee was not accused in either of
the cases, he told this correspondent.
“We expect the Supreme Court will consider all facts with its wider jurisdiction and acquit Delawar Hossain Sayedee," he said.
The SC authorities yesterday asked police to take adequate security measures on the court premises to avoid any untoward incidents centring on the pronouncement of verdict.
Acting SC registrar SM Kuddus Zaman said he requested police high-ups to ensure foolproof security on the court premises today.
Meanwhile, the home ministry has asked the police headquarters to take "effective measures" to ward off violence. Law enforcers have already been put on alert across the country.
Protesting the verdict of the ICT-1 last year, activists of Jamaat and its student body Islami Chhatra Shibir went on the rampage in many places across the country, leaving 65 people dead and several hundred injured within a week after the ICT verdict.
Jamaat-Shibir men in Bogra even tried to coax people into joining in by spreading propaganda that Sayedee's face was seen on the moon and that it was people's holy duty to save the Jamaat nayeb-e-ameer.
Sayedee was sentenced to death on two of the charges - the abduction, torture and the murder of Ibrahim Kutti, and the killing of Bisa Bali in Pirojpur.
He was also convicted of six other charges that include abetting Pakistani soldiers in abducting three women and raping them, torturing people, looting and setting fire to houses of Hindus, compelling them to convert to Islam in Pirojpur, and forcing many peopleto leave the country in 1971.
During the hearing, defence lawyers Khandker Mahbub Hossain and SM Shahjahan told the SC bench that the ICT-1 had convicted and sentenced Sayedee on false and baseless documents, and that Sayedee should be acquitted of all charges.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the SC bench for upholding the ICT-1 verdict that sentenced Sayedee to death, saying all the charges against the Jamaat leader were proved beyond reasonable doubt.