Retired judge Nazrul 'forced to quit fighting Quasem's case'

Retired judge Nazrul Islam Chowdhury on Monday announce to withdraw himself from fighting the case of Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Mir Quasem Ali as one of his counsels.

Nazrul Islam, who retired as a judge of Supreme Court’s High Court division in December last year, made the announcement when the hearing on Mir Quasem’s appeal against his death penalty began in a five-member bench of the Appellate Division led by the chief justice, Surendra Kumar Sinha.

Talking to newsmen after his announcement, the retired judge said he was “forced to withdraw from Quasem’s case due to an extreme hostile atmosphere”.

“I, as a lawyer and a retired judge, have every right to take part in any case as a counsel. This is neither unconstitutional nor immoral,” he claimed.

He said he has been practicing as a Supreme Court lawyer since January this year after he retired in December last year as a judge of the High Court division.

“The attorney general had raised no objection to my being a lawyer in those cases, but question was raised when I took part in Quasem’s case. This is unwarranted,” he added.

On 30 November 2014, Mir Quasem Ali filed the appeal with the SC challenging the death penalty awarded to him by Dhaka’s International Crimes Tribunal-2 for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

On 2 November in the same year, the tribunal had condemned Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali to death for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.