Bangladesh tycoon may be executed within days

Lost appeal is ‘act of political vengeance’ by sham war crimes tribunal, according to supporters of party financed by Mir Ali

DHAKA // A tycoon who was a leading financier for a conservative party in Bangladesh could be executed within days after losing a final appeal yesterday against his sentence from a controversial war crimes tribunal.

The supreme court rejected the last attempt by Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mir Quasem Ali to overturn the death penalty, which was handed down two years ago by the domestic tribunal for murders committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 independence conflict.

“He now has a chance to seek presidential clemency. Or else the verdict could be executed any time, whenever the state wants,” said attorney-general Mahbubey Alam.

Ali, 63, who became a shipping and real estate tycoon, was convicted in November 2014 of a series of crimes during Bangladesh’s war of separation from Pakistan.

The conservative Jamaat party, which is banned from contesting elections, called a nationwide strike for today, saying the charges against Ali were false and baseless and accusing the government of exacting political vengeance.

Five opposition leaders have already been executed for war crimes since 2013. They were all hanged days after their appeals were rejected by the supreme court.

Their families said they had refused to seek a presidential pardon because they did not want to give the trial process legitimacy.

Yesterday’s decision was considered a major blow for the Jamaat party, which Ali had helped to revive by setting up charities, businesses and trusts linked to it after it was allowed to operate in the late 1970s. His son, Mir Ahmed bin Quasem, who was part of his legal defence team, was claimed to have been abducted by security forces this month, which critics said was an attempt to sow fear and prevent protests against the execution.

Security was tight in Dhaka yesterday even though the party had avoided violent protests in recent months in reaction to war crimes verdicts, and there was no immediate sign of unrest.

The war crimes tribunal set up by the government has divided the country, with supporters of Jamaat and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party branding the tribunal a sham aimed at eliminating their leaders.

The executions and convictions of Jamaat officials plunged Bangladesh into one of its worst crises in 2013, when tens of thousands of activists clashed with police in protests that killed about 500 people.