DHAKA: The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed January 14 next year to start hearing the appeal filed by convicted war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.

Wednesday was the day to begin hearing on the appeal.

A five-member bench of SC’s Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the deferment order.

The other members of the bench are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice M Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury.

Attorney general Mahbub-e-Alam moved for the state while Khandaker Mahbub Hossain stood for the defense in the court.

On July 17, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 Mojaheed sentenced to death in three charges of crimes against humanity, lifetime imprisonment for one and five years in prison in another charge.

Mojaheed’s lawyers filed an appeal with the SC challenging death penalty awarded to his client for 1971 war crimes charges on August 11, 2013.

He was a top leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, during the War of Independence in 1971.

Mojaheed led a “death squad”, named Al-Badr, an auxiliary force for the Pakistani army during the war.

BDST: 1315 HRS, DEC 03, 2014