Death warrant read out to Kamaruzzaman
Death warrant read out to Kamaruzzaman
The prison authorities read out the death warrant to condemned war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman this afternoon.
“I have read out the death warrant to Kamaruzzaman around 2:30pm while he wanted to talk to his lawyers for next legal steps,” said Farman Ali, Senior Jail Supper at the Dhaka Central Jail.
Earlier in the day, a tribunal in Dhaka issued the death warrant against the Jamaat-e-Islami leader in a war crimes case.
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued the warrant after receiving the full text of the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the death penalty of Kamaruzzaman for his crimes against humanity during 1971.
The copies of the death warrant, wrapped in red cloth, have been sent to Dhaka district magistrate, prison authorities and secretaries to the home and law ministries, Mustafizur Rahman, registrar of the ICT, told reporters at a briefing.
ICT Acting Deputy Registrar Aftab-uz-Zaman left the office at 1:03pm to deliver the copies, our tribunal correspondent reports from the spot.
The apex court yesterday released the full verdict on Kamaruzzaman’s appeal after all the four judges, who had delivered the verdict on November 3 last year by a majority decision, signed the 577-page judgment.
The judges are: Chief Justice SK Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik.
With this development, Kamaruzzaman got 15 days to file a review petition with the Supreme Court to know the final say on its verdict that has upheld his death penalty for war crimes. The countdown however started yesterday, said Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on the same day.
On May 9, 2013, the tribunal-2 found Kamaruzzaman guilty of five out of the seven charges brought against him and sentenced him to death on two charges, life term on two and 10 years' jail on another. He was acquitted of two counts of war crimes.
He challenged this verdict with the SC, which on November 3 last year upheld the death penalty for the mass killing at Sohagpur in Sherpur on July 25, 1971.
Justice SK Sinha, now the chief justice, headed the four-member SC bench.
The SC has so far completed the trials of two war crimes accused, while the trials of seven others are pending with it.
DEFENCE COUNSEL’S PRESS CONFERENCE
Muhammad Kamaruzzaman’s counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said his client cannot be executed until the review petition, if filed, is not disposed of by the Supreme Court (SC).
The government has to wait 15 days for executing Kamaruzzaman even if he does not file the review petition, said Hossain while addressing a press conference at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium this afternoon.
The counsel added that they have not received the certified copy of the SC verdict although they have applied to the authorities for this copy a long time back.
If the SC rejects the review petition, Kamaruzzaman will get the opportunity to seek presidential mercy petition. If rejected, then the government can execute Kamaruzzaman, said Hossain.
There is no need for hurrying to execute his client, he said.