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According to majority views in full text of the SC verdict that commuted Sayedee's death penalty last year

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The majority of the five Supreme Court judges, who reviewed the death sentence on war crimes convict Delwar Hossain Sayedee, had commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in September last year because a life sentence appeared to them to be "proportionate to the gravity of the

crime" he committed, according to the full verdict released yesterday.

Three judges commuted the sentence, one upheld the capital punishment, and the other acquitted the Jamaat-e-Islami leader of all eight charges. The release paves the way for seeking a review of the verdict, both by the defence and the prosecution.

In his part of the full verdict, Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, one of the five judges, observed that Sayedee was a party to the "diabolic effort to throttle the nationalistic aspiration" of the people of this land, based Life on Bangali nationalism, founded on secular and anti-communal principles.

"His offences, as we can see from the proven evidence, was no less heinous than those others, sentenced to death for committing similar offences against humanity, and hence there exists no reason whatsoever, why a sentence, lesser than death sentence, should be inflicted on him," said Justice Manik who upheld the death sentence.

"In my view his culpability was even worse. Even after liberation he made all contrivances to kill our Bengali nationalistic sentiment and tried to import Paki nationalism and tried, with other anti Liberation elements, to make Bangladesh part of Pakistan...," the judge said.

"Sparing Delawar Hossain Sayedee of the gallows, would, in my view, be affrontive to those three million martyrs who had to shed their lives to emancipate us from Paki colonial yoke..., "he added.

Former Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, one of the three judges, who commuted the death sentence, said Sayedee was involved in torching the houses of Hindus at Parerhat Bandar in Pirojpur causing huge devastations in 1971.

The two other judges are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha (now the chief justice) and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

“The acts of looting of goods and setting fire on dwelling houses are considered persecutions on religions grounds which are also crimes against humanity," said the part, written by the three.

The judges said Sayedee and his associates accompanied by the Pakistani army, raided the Hindu houses of Umedpur village, burnt 25 houses and at one stage, as per his order, one Razakar shot one Bishabali to death.

So, in one count he actively participated in the looting and torching and in another, he abetted the murder of Bishabali, they said, adding that a sentence of imprisonment for rest of his natural life would be "proportionate to the gravity of the crimes”.

Their part of observation says, “ Considering the nature of the offences perpetrated by the accused and his culpability in those crimes, the sentence of death awarded to him is not in conformity with subsection (2) of section 20 of the Act."

According to Section 20 (2) of the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, "Upon conviction of an accused person, the Tribunal shall award sentence of death or such other punishment proportionate to the gravity of the crime as appears to the Tribunal to be just and proper".

Meanwhile, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, who acquitted Sayedee of the charges, observed that the prosecution failed to prove the charges brought against Sayedee beyond reasonable doubt, and as such, he was entitled to be acquitted of all those charges.

Following the release of the full verdict, both the state and defence can file review petitions within 15 days.

Yesterday, Additional Attorney General Murad Reza, also the acting attorney general, said the decision about seeking a review of the judgment would be taken after consulting the government. Meanwhile, Sayedee's counsel Shishir Manir earlier said his client would file a petition and seek acquittal of Sayedee from all charges.

On February 28, 2013, International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Sayedee to death for killing Ibrahim Kutti and one Bishabali in Pirojpur in 1971, even though it had found him guilty on eight charges filed against him.

On September 17 last year, the SC delivered a short order based on majority views commuting Sayedee's death sentence to imprisonment until death.