SC reduces war criminal Shamsul Haque's life sentence to 10 years

A war crime convict has had his life term in prison cut short after a successful appeal attempt. 

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) reduced the life sentence verdict of Jamalpur's Shamsul Haque, also known as Badar Bhai, to a 10-year imprisonment for crimes committed against humanity during the Liberation War of 1971.

The six-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan delivered the verdict on Tuesday (14 November).

Shamsul Haque faced charges on five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, genocide, detention, kidnapping, torture, looting, and disappearance of a corpse. 

The Appellate Division's decision comes after a hearing in which Attorney General Abu Mohammad Amin Uddin and Assistant Attorney General M Saiful Alam represented the state, while Advocate SM Shahjahan and Barrister Ehsan A Siddique appeared for the accused.

Earlier on 18 October, the Supreme Court had set 7 November as the verdict date following a hearing in the case but later postponed it to 14 November. 

The International Criminal Tribunal had initially handed down death sentences to three accused and life imprisonment to five others on 18 July 2016. 

The International Criminal Tribunal awarded the death penalty to three accused and life imprisonment to five accused on 18 July 2016.

The accused who received capital punishment were Jamalpur's Ashraf Hossain, Abdul Mannan and Abdul Bari. At the same time, the former director of Islami Bank Sharif Ahmed alias Sharif Hossain, Harun, Abul Hashem, Md Shamsul Haque alias Badr Bhai and SM Yusuf Ali were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Shamsul and Yusuf were the only convicts who remained in prison, with the others found absconding at the end of the trial.

Shamsul Haque and Yusuf Ali later appealed against the verdict and while the appeal was pending, Yusuf passed away.