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Reaction of the Defence Team: Let alone death sentence, (Maulana Sayidi) should not be sentenced for a minute
In reaction to the death sentence for the famous Alim-e-Deen (Scholar of "Deen"/Religion/Islam, loosely translated) of the subcontinent, Maulana Delawar Hussein Sayidi, the Defence Team said, "The verdict is unbelievable. We are stunned. The prosecution could not prove (any of) the allegations, and yet they sentenced him to death. It is very sad. According to the (available) evidence and witnesses, he should not even be sentenced for a minute, let alone be sentenced to death. This verdict against him is completely perverse. Extreme injustice against Maulana Sayidi has been carried out in the issuance of this verdict." These were the comments of the leader of the Defence Team, Barrister Abdur Razzaque. "Maulana Sayidi is completely innocent, he should have been acquitted. We are perturbed (by this verdict). An appeal will be launched against the verdict at a predetermined time. We hope, we will obtain justice at the appeal."
He made these remarks to journalists in his residence at Dhanmondi yesterday. Along with him was lawyer of the Defence Team, Advocate Mohammad Tajul Islam.
Explaining the two murders for which Maulana Sayidi has been sentenced to death, Barrister Abdur Razzaque said, "Regarding the case of the murder of Bisha Bali, his brother Suka Ranjan Bali came to testify
in favour of Maulana Sayidi. Everybody, including our compatriots, know that he was kidnapped from the gates of the tribunal by this government's "Law and Order maintenance" force. There has been no information on his whereabouts ever since.
"The other case is that of the murder of Ibrahim Kutty(?). Ibrahim Kutty's spouse lodged a statement at the police station in 1972. There was no mention of Maulana Sayidi in that statement. We have presented a copy of that statement to the court. The question then becomes, on what basis has this death sentence verdict been issued? We are truly surprised at the issuance of the death sentence on these two (murder) cases. We are really surprised." When asked by journalists on whether this verdict has been issued based on political considerations, he responded "This verdict is completely politically motivated. We have presented a lot of evidence in favour of this allegation in the courtroom."
Regarding a question of the journalists on the punishment of "young Sayidi", he quipped "Whether the age was 18, 30 or 2 is not the issue to be considered here. From a legal perspective, such a question is worthless. The question is whether the State could prove their allegations through appropriate legal procedures. We will say the State has failed to prove their allegations. We have disproved all their accusations, yet Maulana Sayidi has been wrongly sentenced (to death)"
When asked if the "Shahbag Andolon" (Shahbag circus) had any impact on the verdict or the issuance of the death sentence by journalists, he informed that "This is not a legal matter. Judges work according to the constitution, laws and their conscience. Whatever has been said from outside should not have been considered. "
In a written response, Barrister Abdur Razzaque informed that "Maulana Delawar Hussein Sayidi is an internationally acclaimed Islamic thinker. He is a very popular Mufassire Quran."
"A verdict has been issued against him today (on Thursday) by the ICT. He has been sentenced to death. We believe, this verdict against him is completely perverse and devoid of justice. Extreme injustice has been carried out against him through this verdict. The tribunal should have declared him innocent and acquitted him. Of the 20 allegations against him, 16 were of crimes against humanity, and 4 were of genocide. They could not prove even a single one of these allegations. Prosecution presented 28 witnesses, and the defendant has been successful in proving every single one of their testimonies to be untrue."
"Apart from that, 16 other witnesses are claimed to be unreachable or they can not be brought to the tribunal, so their alleged statements presented to some investigation officers have been passed off as witnesses. They could not be interrogated. Among these so called unreachable witnesses, one Usa Rani Melaker stated very clearly in one of her interviews to a Television channel that Maulana Sayidi was in no way related to the murder of her husband Hoorlal Melaker. Another two witnesses tried to come to the tribunal and affirm that Prosecution has been trying to release false statements in their names. Amongst them, much discussed Byagirati's son Gones Sheha mentioned the falsehood spread against his mother's name by the Prosecution involving the name of Maulana Sayidi. The other (witness) Sukaroanjan Bali could only manage to reach the doorsteps of the tribunal to divulge the falsehoods propagated by the Prosecution against Maulana Sayidi, but the Police has allegedly kidnapped him from there on the 5th of November. Whether he is alive or dead is not known even today."
"The government's behaviour with Sukaronajan Bali is ample evidence of the massive extent of falsehood that the allegations against Maulana Sayidi are. The most surprising fact is, those witnesses that were purported to be unreachable, were sometimes detained by the government in their safe homes for up to 45 days. They were pressured into releasing false testimonies. Finally, when those witnesses declined to issue false testimonies, they were sent back to some unknown places. We had presented 500-pages of evidence in favour of these facts. The then-tribunal under the leadership of Justice Nizamul Haque declined to accept those irrefutable pieces of evidence."
"Later, thanks to the Skype scandal (involving Justice Nizamul Haque), Bangladeshis and people all around the world witnessed how, through a conspiracy between the Judge and the Prosecution involving the release of false testimonies, important documents, order and verdict from abroad, a malicious attempt had been carried out to issue a death sentence for Maulana Sayidi. Even after obtaining these irrefutable pieces of evidence from Justice Nizamul Haque's Skype conversation and emails, the Tribunal rejected the appeal to reconsider the case by taking into account the compelling evidence (of conspiracy and manufactured testimonies). It remains a shameful episode in the history of the Justice department, and in this way, Maulana Sayidi has been the victim of injustice and falsehood from the beginning to the end."
"Even though there are provisions (for more witnesses?) in the laws, only 17 witnesses in favour of the defendant were allowed to present their testimonies as against 28 witnesses presented by the Prosecution. These 17 witnesses were prevented from making their testimonies (freely), and impediments were created in the way of interrogating the 28 witnesses presented by the Prosecution numerous times. Despite these handicaps, the available evidence and witnesses did not contain the minimal elements required to issue a sentence against Maulana Sayidi, but he has been sentenced to death nonetheless."
"We are dismayed at this verdict. We will appeal against it, and hope to obtain justice at the appeal."
