SC hearing on Nizami case starts soon
The Supreme Court is now set to hear the appeal of war crimes convict Motiur Rahman Nizami after adjudicating the case against another war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
The appeal of Nizami is the first on the list of eight pending war crimes related appeals and the SC might fix any day for starting the hearing, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star.
He, however, could not specifically say when the Appellate Division would fix the date and how much time would be needed for the hearing and disposing the appeal of the Jamaat-e-Islami chief.
Defence counsel Shishir Manir has also recently told this correspondent that the SC might start hearing on Nizami's appeal any day since both the defence and the state have earlier submitted concise statements to the court, mentioning points of their arguments over the appeal.
The SC had earlier heard the appeals of war criminal and Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury for nine and 13 working days respectively.
The apex court started hearing Salauddin's appeal on June 16 and finished it on July 7.
It delivered verdict on the BNP leader's appeal on July 29 upholding his death penalty for his acts of genocide and war crimes committed in 1971.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 29 last year found 71-year-old Nizami guilty on eight of the 16 war crimes charges brought against him and handed him the death penalty on four charges and life imprisonment on the other four.
The four charges on which he was sentenced to death are his involvement in the killings of intellectuals, murders of 450 civilians and rape in Bausgari and Demra, killings of 52 people in Dhulaura, killings of 11 people and rape of three women in Karamja in Pabna.
Nizami was also sentenced to imprisonment for life on the charges of involvement in the killing of Kasim Uddin, two others, and Sohrab Ali in Pabna, torture and killing at Mohammadpur Physical Training Centre and killing of freedom fighters Rumi, Bodi, Jewel and Azad at Old MP Hostel in Dhaka.
Rumi is the son of Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam, who initiated the movement for war crimes trial in independent Bangladesh. He and his fellow freedom fighters Jewel, Azad, Bodi and Jalal were picked up from different places in Dhaka in August 1971.
The Pakistan army kept them confined to the Old MP Hostel. Except for Jalal, others were later killed on Nizami's instructions, according to the charges.
Nizami, who has also been sentenced to death in the sensational 10-truck arms haul case, filed the appeal with the SC on November 23 last year challenging the war crimes verdict.
In his appeal, the Jamaat chief pleaded not guilty and sought acquittal on all eight charges.
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