An appeal has been filed to increase the sentence of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her associate, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who were sentenced to death for crimes against humanity during the July Uprising. The prosecution team has appealed for the death penalty on the charges for which the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced them to life imprisonment.
This appeal was filed by the prosecution on Monday in the relevant branch of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division. In the appeal, the prosecution has presented eight grounds or arguments to increase the sentence of the two accused.
The filing of the appeal was confirmed to journalists by Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim. He said, “Although Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal were given the death penalty on one charge, they were given life imprisonment on other proven charges. We believe this was not appropriate. Therefore, the appeal has been filed on eight grounds to increase the sentence.”
In this regard, the prosecution has presented eight grounds or arguments in the appeal petition.
The first ground is that the International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1973 mentions punishment; the death penalty is mentioned first. Afterwards, the gravity of the offense is mentioned. Since a punishment is specified in the law, the accused deserve the death penalty on all charges.
The second argument states that the crime committed during the July mass uprising is a severe violation of human rights. And heinous offenses have been committed there; the only punishment should be the death penalty.
Thirdly, the scale of the attacks or assaults on the innocent, unarmed masses during the uprisingwas severe. For this reason, no punishment other than the death penalty would have been legally correct.
The fourth reason is that according to the “gravity of the offense”, the death penalty should be the only punishment for such crimes.
Fifthly, it is not enough to only consider the rights of the accused; the rights of the victims and the reasonable expectations of society must also be considered. The court should have considered what kind of punishment society expects for such crimes, and what kind of punishment should be given by the court to stop such criminal tendencies in the future, so that society will be free from such crimes. In other words, the death penalty should have been given.
The sixth ground states that these accused are deliberately and purposefully fugitives. They know that their case is ongoing in the tribunal, sentences are being given, the appeal period is 30 days. Knowing all this, they have remained fugitive and are obstructing the trial in various ways as well.
The seventh argument is that the type of killings that occurred under the direct order or instruction of the accused is barbaric. Under their instruction, more than 14,000 people were martyred and more than 25,000 were injured across the country.
The final argument is that the first charge was about the murder of Abu Saeed, who was a pioneer of this July mass uprising. Therefore, the death penalty for the accused on this charge was justice. Since the tribunal did not give that, the death penalty should be given here as well.
On November 17, International Crimes Tribunal-1 gave the verdict in the case of Hasina and three other accused for crimes against humanity. In the verdict, Hasina and Kamal were given the death penalty. However, their associate, then IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, was given a reduced sentence of five years for becoming a state witness and assisting the court by providing information to establish justice.
In the verdict, the court said that all five charges brought by the prosecution against Hasina, Kamal, and Mamun have been proven. However, the court has combined the first, second, and third charges. On this charge, Hasina and Kamal received life imprisonment. The fourth and fifth charges have been combined, and on this charge, Hasina and Kamal have been given the death penalty.
There is a mandatory obligation to appeal within 30 days of the verdict announcement, and it must be resolved within 60 days of filing the appeal. Hasina and Kamal have been in exile in India since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024. Their trial was held in absentia.
