[18] While studying, he was elected president of the Shahidullah Hall unit of the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami – East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha.

As a member of East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha, Quader Mollah joined a paramilitary force, Al-Badr, during the Bangladesh War of Independence.

[23] Bangladesh achieved independence that year and eventually Jamaat and all Islamist and religion-based parties were banned from political participation under the new government.

[24] In 1996, prior to the controversial February elections, he was arrested along with Awami League leader Tofael Ahmed under the Special Powers Act, 1974.

A formal charge was filed by the Prosecution against Abdul Quader Mollah on 18 December 2011 in the form of a petition, as required under Section 9(1) of the 1973 Act.

[34] During the protests, hundreds of thousands of people held day-and-night vigils at Shahbag, refusing to leave until all those convicted of war crimes were sentenced to death.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had also initially expressed support for Jamaat-e-Islami, a principal ally in their Four-Party Alliance in the 2000s.

[36] The BNP has commented on the Shahbag Protest, warning that the government should not be allowed to draw political mileage from the movement that demanded capital punishment for convicted war criminals.

[37] Responding to the demand of the Shahbag activists, on 13 February 2013, the National Press Club of Bangladesh stripped Quader Mollah of his membership.

[38] The European Union, the UK, Turkey and Australia expressed their concern as they believed the death penalty violated human rights.

[39][40] Two UN Human Rights Commission experts called on to halt the execution because of concerns that Abdul Quader Mollah did not receive a fair trial.

[3]"The right of appeal is of particular importance in death penalty cases," said the Special Rapporteur (UN) on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul.

Only full respect for stringent due process guarantees distinguishes capital punishment as possibly permitted under international law from a summary execution, which by definition violates human rights standards.

"[42] The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) says the retrospective application of the amendment in Abdul Quader Molla's case is incompatible with Bangladesh's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), including Article 15, which prohibits the imposition of a heavier penalty than provided for at the time the criminal offence was committed.

[46] Mollah was one of five leaders of the largest Islamic Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and condemned to death by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal.

Prisons chief Main Uddin Khandaker then said that all preparations had been made and that Quader Molla's family had been asked to meet him prior to the execution.

[50] The appellate division of Bangladesh Supreme Court, which raised Quader Molla's life sentence to a death penalty, rejected his petition to review the ruling.

His lawyer, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, added that "my client has been deprived of fair justice, but since the highest court has made the decision, we have nothing more to say.