The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing the appeal of Mobarak Hossain, an expelled Awami League leader and former Jamaat-e-Islami member, challenging his 2014 death sentence for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War in Brahmanbaria.
A four-member bench, headed by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, began proceedings in the long-pending case by hearing arguments from Mobarak Hossain鈥檚 defence counsel, Imran Abdullah Siddiq.
The hearing comes months after the Appellate Division controversially acquitted Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam, overturning his death sentence in another 2014 war crimes conviction.
On November 24, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 sentenced Mobarak to death for his role in the abduction, confinement, torture, and murder of civilians during the war.
He was found guilty on five charges, including genocide and crimes against humanity.
The death penalty was handed down for his direct involvement in the massacre of 33 unarmed villagers in Akhaura, Brahmanbaria.
Mobarak had served as the organising secretary of a local Awami League unit in Akhaura for 16 years. He was expelled from the party following the emergence of war crimes allegations.
The initial case against Mobarak was filed in 2009 by Khodeja Begum, whose father was allegedly killed by the accused during the war. The case was later transferred to the International Crimes Tribunal. On March 12, 2013, the tribunal accepted the charges against Mobarak and ordered his detention.
The prosecution formally submitted the charges on February 25, 2013, leading to one of the landmark trials in the post-war justice process.
