HRDB NEWSLETTER

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh Newsletter

30 Aug 2016

Halt imminent execution

of Mir Quasem Ali
after unfair trial
The Bangladesh authorities must halt the imminent execution of a senior political leader who has
been sentenced to death following a deeply
flawed trial, Amnesty International said today.
The people of Bangladesh deserve justice for crimes
committed during the War of Independence. The continued use of the death penalty will not achieve this. It only
serves to inflame domestic tensions and further divide a
society riven by violence, said Champa Patel, Amnesty
Internationals South Asia Director.
The Bangladesh Supreme Court today upheld the conviction and death sentence against Mir Quasem Ali, a key
financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, after rejecting his
review appeal. It follows an International Crimes Tribunal
(ICT) judgement a Bangladeshi court examining war
crimes during Bangladeshs 1971 War of Independence
that found Mir Quasem Ali guilty of committing crimes
against humanity in November 2014.
Last week a group of UN experts urged the Bangladeshi
government to annul the death sentence against Mir
Quasem Ali and grant him a retrial, noting how the proceedings had reportedly been marred by
irregularities.

Amnesty International and other leading human rights

organisation have raised serious fair trial concerns about
the ICT proceedings. These include denying defence lawyers adequate time to prepare their cases, and arbitrarily
limiting the number of witnesses they could call on.
The ICT proceedings have been marred by fair trial issues from the start. The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment that will only compound the injustice of the proceedings. Those who suffered through the
horrific events of 1971 deserve better than a flawed process. All executions must be halted immediately as a first
step towards abolition of this punishment, said Champa
Patel.
The organisation also fears for the fate of Mir Ahmed Bin
Quasem, Quasem Alis son and a member of his legal
defence team. Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem was arrested without a warrant by men in plainclothes on 9 August. He has
been held incommunicado ever since, and has not been
charged with any crime.

Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh Newsletter

30 Aug 2016

Who is Mir Quasem Ali?

Mir Quasem Ali is the founder of more
that 15 Hospitals, 10 Schools and
helped build many orphanages, Women
Shelter & Rehabilitation Centre, Free
medical centers and Mosques.

Foundation. This Foundation is a sister

concern of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, it
runs more than 15 Hospitals and more
that 50 Hospitals are under Construction;
these hospitals provide Health Care at
cost price affordable for the majority of the
Chairman (Management Committee),
population. , One English Medium School,
Diganta Media Corporation. This is a
One Medical College, One Rehabilitation
media house, which owns One Satellite TV Centre for deprived women One Language
Station, One Bangla Language National
Learning Centre and Lends interest free
Daily News Paper, and Two Monthly Mag- loans for SMEs and 49 projects aimed at
azines. One FM Radio station, one English poverty eradication.
language National Daily, One 24 hour web
based news portal both in Bangla and
Islamic Economic Research Bureau.
English will be launched soon.
One of the biggest think tanks of Bangladesh on Commerce and Economics. He
Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited: This
was the Chairman and currently he serves
is the biggest Private bank in Bangladesh as a Trustee of the Board of Trustees of
which introduced Islamic banking and fithe Organizations.
nancing to the people of Bangladesh. He
in one of the Founder and Visionary beFounding Trusty and Member responsihind the success of Islami Bank. He was
ble for Administration, Ibn Sina Trust.
the Chairman of the Executive Committee This trust runs 4 Specialized Hospitals,
for 12 years and Vice-Chairman for 4
One Medical College, and 5 Diagnostic
years. Under his leadership Islami Bank
Laboratories; Ibn Sina Trust was first pribecame the first public listed bank in
vate healthcare provider offering whole
Bangladesh. Islami Bank is the highest tax range of Health Care Services. 100% profit
and VAT paying bank in Bangladesh and
is plowed back for Humanitarian Causes.
the second highest tax paying corporation Trust also runs 11 other community serin the ranking of all corporations in Bangla- vice projects.
desh both national and multi-nationals
combined.
Director (Marketing), Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical Industry. One of the first PharFounding Trusty and Member responsi- maceutical industries in Bangladesh, holdble for Administration, Islami Bank
ing nearly 10% of the Market share. Phar-

maceuticals is the 2nd biggest export sector in Bangladesh.

Chairman, Association of Multipurpose
Welfare Agencies of Bangladesh. This
is the biggest Association of Bangladeshi
NGOs.
Vice- Chairman, Industrialists and
Businessmen Welfare Foundation. A
global forum for Businessmen and Industrialists of Bangladeshi Origin. Currently it
has representation from 20 countries.
Chairman, Keari Limited. This is a
group of Companies which includes Real
State Development, Poultry and Tourism.
This company was the first to launch
ocean going luxury Tourists Liner in Bangladesh. Now it operates two such ships.
Senior Vice President, Allama Iqbal
Trust. This trust is dedicated on development of literature of aesthetic merit.
Trusty (Responsible for Administration), Fouad Al Khateeb Charity Foundation. This trust runs 10 charitable
community services projects.
International Relations:
He is entrusted by Bangladesh Jamaat-eislami for maintaining relationship with
International Community and he is a Senior policy maker in formulating Foreign
Policy of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

Please pray for Mir Quasem Ali a renowned Islamic activist, entrepreneur businessman who is the founder of more that 15 Hospitals,
10 Schools and helped build many orphanages, Women Shelter &
Rehabilitation Centre, Free medical centers and Mosques.
Human Rights and Development for Bangladesh (HRDB) / email: humanrightsbd@gmail.com