Jamaat leader loses final appeal against execution

Dhaka: The Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Monday upheld its previous verdict on Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, rejecting his plea for reviewing death penalty for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed the review petition of the Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Kamaruzzaman.

Other members of the bench were Justice Abdul Wahhab Mia, Justice Hasan Fayez Siddique and Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury.

After the verdict, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters that there is no legal bar for the government to execute Kamaruzzaman for his crimes against humanity following the SC judgement.

He will not seek mercy from president, a counsel for Kamaruzzaman confirmed.

Earlier in December 2013, another Jaamat-e-Islami leader, party’s other assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla was hanged to death for crimes against humanity in 1971.

The Jamaat leader was a key organiser of the infamous Al-Badr force in the then greater Mymensingh district.

Al-Badr, the auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, was responsible for abducting, torturing and killing freedom fighters, intellectuals and pro-liberation people during the Liberation War in 1971.

As per the jail code, a convict gets seven days’ time to seek presidential mercy after the jail authority receives the death warrant and communicates it to the convict. The death row inmate is executed between 21 days and 28 days of receiving the SC order.

But the jail code would not be applicable for Kamaruzzaman, the attorney general said, adding that the mercy petition should not be granted considering the brutal crimes he had committed during the war. 

The trial process has concluded. Only two things are left now. One is whether he will seek a presidential clemency and the second is the visit of his family members in jail,” he told a media briefing on Monday.

“The next thing is the implementation of the verdict, which the government will decide,” said the country’s top law officer.

The law, however, does not stipulate a specific time to resolve the issue of mercy petition, said Alam.

But that does not mean 7 to 15 days. The prison authorities will inform Kamaruzzaman and set a time as per its own discretion,” added the attorney general.

If the president decided to consider the mercy petition then he could keep the file with him even for 15 days, he said. “But if the president thinks he will not consider it, then he can send it back within an hour.”

Replying a query, Alam said that the verdict would not be implemented until the matter of presidential clemency was resolved.

Referring the execution of sentences on the day of rejection of review petition itself as was done in the case of Bangabandhu murder trial and war crimes trial of Quader Molla, journalists asked whether that would be the case for Kamaruzzaman too.

The attorney general pointed out that Quader Molla did not file a mercy petition and that his family had met him earlier.

“So, Quader Molla’s execution was carried out in line with the laws. Now two things are left in the case of Kamaruzzaman:  Whether he will go for a mercy petition and let the family members visit him,” he added.

The government would decide when to implement the verdict, said Alam. “When the verdict will be implemented is not the main issue. The key issue is, his death sentence has been upheld.”

He added that the jail code would not be applicable in war crimes trials.

International Crimes Tribunal-2, where the trial of Kamaruzzaman was held, issued the death warrant onFebruary 19.

On May 9, 2013, the Tribunal-2 found Kamaruzzaman guilty in five of the seven charges brought against him and sentenced him to death in two charges, life term in two and 10 years’ imprisonment in another.

Kamaruzzaman appealed to the apex court on June 6, 2013, and the SC upheld the tribunal verdict on November 3, 2014, but commuted one death sentence to life term imprisonment.

The condemned convict Jamaat leader on 5 March this year filed a review petition. The hearing on the petition by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ended on Sunday.

Senior lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain moved for the convict while attorney general Mahbubey Alam represented the state during the hearing.

Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 on  May 9 in 2013.

He appealed to the apex court on  June 6, 2013.

On November 3, 2014, the Appellate Division, based on the majority’s opinion, retained the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Huq said that the Supreme Court verdict upholding the death penalty of war criminal Jaamat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman will be executed at the earliest possible time on completion of the remaining formalities.

Before execution of the judgement, Kamaruzzaman will be given the opportunity to seek presidential mercy; Anisul Huq told journalists after the apex court rejected his review petition filed against its verdict that upheld his death penalty.

The prison authorities will ask him whether he will seek the mercy, the minister said.

If Kamaruzzaman does not seek mercy, the prison authorities will decide the next procedure, he added.

“I am satisfied over the SC judgement as justice has finally been delivered,” Huq said.

On the other hand, aggrieved by Supreme Court rejection of war crimes convict Muhammad Kamaruzzaman’s petition seeking review of his death penalty, his party Jamaat-e-Islami today called a 48-hour nationwide Hartal (shutdown) from Tuesday.

Jamaat, a key ally of BNP-led 20-party alliance, will observe the hartal from 6:00am tomorrow protesting the SC verdict, said a press release signed by the party’s acting Ameer(Chief) Moqbul Ahmed.