Qaisar to die for war crimes

Former Jatiya Party State Minister Syed Mohammad Qaisar has been convicted on seven charges including mass killings and rape committed during the liberation war in 1971 and awarded capital punishment.
A three-member bench of ICT-2, headed by its Chairman Justice Obaidul Hasan, passed the verdict on Tuesday.
The 73-year-old Qaisar has also been awarded life term imprisonment on four charges while 10 years in charge no 2, seven years in charge no 7 and five years in charge no 11.
Qaisar, a former state minister during HM Ershad’s regime, was indicted on February 2 this year on 16 counts of charges that include mass killings, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, abduction and torture in confinement, rape and other inhuman acts.
The trial in the case began on March 4 and 32 prosecution witnesses placed their depositions at the tribunal.
The former state minister was arrested on May 16 last year, a day after the tribunal had issued an arrest warrant for him.
The investigation agency submitted the report on September 22 last year and the prosecution placed the formal charges on November 20.