No petition for mercy until review

War crimes convict Muhammad Kamaruzzaman will not seek presidential clemency until the Supreme Court settles his review petition, a defence lawyer said yesterday.

“Kamaruzzaman will decide on seeking the presidential mercy after the Supreme Court disposes of his review petition,” Mohammad Shishir Manir, one of the counsels of the death row convict, said at a press conference at Supreme Court Bar Association yesterday afternoon.

The Jamaat-e-Islami leader will file the review within 30 days after receiving the certified copy of the Appellate Division judgment that upheld his death penalty for wartime offences, Manir told reporters.

On November 3, the SC upheld the death penalty for Kamaruzzaman, a key organiser of the infamous Al-Badr Bahini responsible for abducting, torturing and killing freedom fighters, intellectuals and pro-liberation people in 1971.

Law Minister Anisul Huq had said that Kamaruzzaman could be executed on the basis of an order of the apex court unless anything to the contrary was stated in its full verdict.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka central jail has already been asked to prepare for the execution of Kamaruzzaman.

However, the confusion over whether Kamaruzzaman has the right to seek a review is yet to be dispelled. Both the prosecution and the defence say the ambiguity will be gone as soon as the full verdict of the apex court is available.

The law minister had said that Kamaruzzaman would get seven days' time after he was handed his death verdict by the SC to plead for presidential mercy.

"Otherwise, he will be executed immediately," the minister said.

However, Shishir Manir yesterday termed the law minister's comment on the time-frame “illegal and confusing".

"We urge the minister to refrain from making such comments," Shishir said.

After receiving the death warrant from the International Crimes Tribunal-2, Kamaruzzaman will get seven days' time as per Section 991 of old Jail Code and 15 days' time as per the same section of new Jail Code to seek presidential mercy, he said.

Asked about the defence lawyer's claim, the law minister yesterday refused to make any comment to The Daily Star.

“No comment. I will not make any comment,” he said.

Meanwhile yesterday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters at his office that the ICT-2 would issue the death warrant for Kamaruzzaman after receiving the Appellate Division judgment.

It depends on the SC whether it will send the full judgment or short judgment to the ICT-2, he added.