Family meets Nizami at Kashimpur jail

Family members met condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami at Kashimpur jail in Gazipur this morning.

Seven members of Nizami’s family were allowed to meet him for 40 minutes at the jail, said Nasir Ahmed, jailer of Kashimpur Jail-2.

They entered into the jail around 11:30am, our Gazipur correspondent reports. 

The meeting took place a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the Jamaat-e-Islami chief's petition for reviewing its verdict that upheld his death penalty.

Nizami was awarded death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in 2014 for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

READ MORE: NO to Jamaat war criminal NIZAMI'S plea

The man, who led the ruthless militia Al-Badr in the massacre of Bangalees including intellectuals and professionals during the 1971 Liberation War, has now only one option left -- seeking presidential clemency by confessing to the crimes he committed during the nine-month war.

As per the precedents set in previous executions of war crimes convicts, it is expected that after the SC's dismissal of the petition, the court will release the full text of the verdict and send it to the tribunal.

The copies of the verdict will be sent to the jail authorities and the district magistrate in Dhaka. The jail authorities will then ask the condemned war criminal if he would seek presidential clemency within a "reasonable time".

If Nizami, now 73, seeks mercy, his plea would go to the president through the home ministry.

If he refrains from seeking clemency, the jail authorities would take preparations for his execution.