Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday asked the defendant to submit a concise statement before the court by 20 May in response to an appeal filed by condemned convicted war criminal Mir Quasem Ali against his death sentence.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha also asked the state counsels to submit their concise statement on the same appeal before the bench by 27 May.

The bench passed the order as the appeal of Mir Quasem, also a policymaker of Jamaat-e-Islami, came up in the hearing list of the SC for an order on early Wednesday.

Advocate Jaynul Abedin appeared for Quasem Ali while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.

Earlier, 30 November 2014, Mir Quasem Ali had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the death penalty awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal 2 for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

On 2 November 2014, the tribunal had unanimously condemned the Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali to death for war crimes.