Shawdesh desk:

The Appellate Division on Tuesday reduced Jamalpur war criminal Md Shamsul Hoque’ s sentence  to 10 years from imprisonment until  death.

A six- judge bench chaired by chief justice Obaidul Hassan delivered the verdict after dismissing the appeal filed by Shamsul challenging an International Crimes Tribunal’s verdict that in 2016 sentenced him in jail until his natural death for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in Jamalpur district during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

The convict’ lawyer Ehsan A Siddique argued that  Shamsul, now 81 years old, was innocent and was not involved in any crimes against humanity.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 in a verdict on July 18, 2016, sentenced Shamsul, former Islami Bank director Sharif Ahmed, SM Yousuf and five other leaders and activists of the anti-liberation Al-Badr force and Peace Committee in Jamalpur to imprisonment until death.

The tribunal also sentenced three fugitive war criminals — Ashraf Hussain, Abdul Mannan and Abdul Bari— to death for committing war crimes in the district.

Of the eight convicts,   Shamsul and Yousuf were arrested during the trial.

Yousuf later died in jail while his appeal was pending.