Full SC verdict likely this week
The full text of the Supreme Court judgment upholding the death penalty for war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman is likely to be released any day this week.
It will clear the way for the Jamaat assistant secretary general to seek a review of his capital punishment by the apex court.
All the four SC judges, who had delivered the verdict on November 3 last year by a majority decision, have recently completed writing their parts of the judgment, an SC source said.
The parts of the judgment will be compiled into a full verdict and then the judges will affix their signs on it for its release.
Talking to The Daily Star on Friday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said Kamaruzzaman has to file the review petition with the SC within 15 days after the release of the full judgment.
The Appellate Division of the SC might take a few days for hearing and disposing of the review petition, if filed by the convict, he added. The scope for reviewing judgments in criminal cases is very little, observed the attorney general.
If the SC does not review its judgment in the war crimes case, the convict can seek presidential mercy.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 had handed capital punishment to the key organiser of the infamous Al-Badr Bahini for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The SC upheld the death penalty to the 62-year-old for the mass killing at Sohagpur of Sherpur on July 25, 1971. All the four SC judges found him guilty of the charge, but the death sentence was upheld by a majority decision.
The Al-Badr was responsible for abduction, torture and killing of freedom fighters, intellectuals and pro-liberation people during the war.
A lawyer for Kamaruzzaman, Shishir Manir said they will meet their client at Dhaka Central Jail for necessary instructions after receiving the full judgment of the SC.
The decision on seeking presidential mercy will be taken if the review petition is rejected by the SC, he added.
Justice SK Sinha, now the chief justice, headed the four-member SC bench.
The other members were Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik.
The apex court commuted Kamaruzzaman's death sentence to life term imprisonment for killing Golam Mostafa at Gridda Narayanpur village of Sherpur.
It also found the Jamaat-e-Islami leader guilty of two more charges relating to killing and torture, but acquitted him of another charge of killing.
The SC has so far completed the trials of two war crimes accused, while the trials of seven others are pending with it.
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