Execution only thru' due process
Two human rights experts of the United Nations have called on the government to stay the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman who has been awarded death penalty for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, and Gabriela Knaul, another UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, said a person sentenced to death must have the right to seek pardon or commutation of his sentence.
In a press release on November 6, Heyns and Knaul noted: “In countries that have not abolished the death penalty, capital punishment may be imposed only following a trial that complied with the most stringent guarantees of fair trial and due process.
“Any death sentence executed in contravention of a government's international obligations is tantamount to an arbitrary execution.”
Last year, the two UN human rights experts had urged Bangladesh to halt the execution of Jamaat leader and convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah.
On November 3, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for Jamaat's Assistant Secretary General Kamaruzzaman, a key organiser of infamous Al-Badr Bahini responsible for abducting, torturing and killing freedom fighters, intellectuals and pro-liberation people in 1971.
The government has already asked the Dhaka Central Jail authorities to make preparation for his execution.
However, a debate continues over Kamaruzzaman's right to seek review of the SC verdict.
The UN human rights specialists have on several occasions expressed concerns regarding serious violations of fair trial and due process guarantees in the judicial proceedings before the tribunal that were reported to them, the press release said.
LAW MINISTER'S REACTION
The government will not back off from executing the death sentence of Kamaruzzaman, Law Minister Anisul Huq told The Daily Star in his reaction to the UN human rights experts' call.
“The highest court of the country has sentenced Kamaruzzaman to death for his war-time crimes, maintaining all legal procedures. We are a sovereign nation, and therefore, the government will do the needful to implement the verdict,” he said.
Anisul said as per the relevant rules, the Jamaat leader will be given seven days for seeking presidential mercy since his hearing of the judgment.
If Kamaruzzaman does not seek presidential clemency within the time, the government will take necessary steps for his execution on the basis of the SC's short verdict, the minister said.
Citing an example, Anisul said the so-called killers of late president Ziaur Rahman were hanged a few hours after the SC upheld their death sentences in 1982.
The minister hoped to receive the short verdict from the SC on the Jamaat leader very soon.
About the UN human rights experts' request, Anisul said he would send their statement to the foreign ministry to find out its authenticity and would make a decision about it on receipt of the foreign ministry report.
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