Dhaka –The jail authorities read out the death warrant to condemned war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami at Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur on Wednesday morning.
Basanta Kumar, senior jail super of Kashimpur Central Jail-2, said, “The copy of the death warrant reached the jail around 9:20 am and it was immediately read out to Nizami around 10:15.”
Nizami himself also read the death warrant and told the jail supper that he would file review petition after discussion with his lawyers.
Earlier, the copy of the death warrant for Nizami reached the Dhaka Central Jail on Tuesday night.
The Dhaka jail authorities sent the death warrant copy to Kashimpur Jail as war criminal Nizami is being kept there.
On Tuesday, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued the death warrant for condemned Jamaat ameer Nizami for his war crimes.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Supreme Court released the full text of its verdict upholding the death penalty of Nizami.
Later, a copy of the Appellate Division’s full verdict was sent to the registrar’s office of the ICT in the evening.
Talking to reporters at his office, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the verdict will be executed following further steps.
He said the defence will get 15 days for filing a review petition and if the review plea is rejected, they can seek clemency from the president.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain said they will file a review petition for commuting the punishment.
On January 6 last, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, upheld the death sentence of the Jamaat Ameer for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The Appellate Division upheld the International Crimes Tribunal-1 order that sentenced Nizami to death for committing crimes against humanity, including genocide and murder of intellectuals, during the war.
The apex court upheld his death penalty on three of the four counts, while he was acquitted in one.
The SC upheld his life term imprisonment for two charges in connection with the arrest, detention, torture, and murder of three people, including head Maulana Kasim Uddin of Pabna Zila School on June 4, 1971, complicity in torture, murder and rape at Mohammadpur Physical Training Institute in Dhaka, and murder of Badi, Rumi Jewel and Azad at Old MP Hostel in Dhaka on August 30, 1971.
The Appellate Division acquitted the Jamaat leader of two other charges.
On October 29, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Nizami to death for committing crimes against humanity, including genocide and the murder of intellectuals, during the Liberation War.
The tribunal sentenced Nizami, the 1971 commander-in-chief of the Al Badr killing squad, to death for each of four counts of charges of war crimes, terming Al Badr a criminal outfit.
Nizami filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on November 23, 2014 challenging the death sentence and claimed himself innocent and sought to be cleared of the charges. – UNB
