Sagar Biswas :A fresh debate has cropped up over the ’15 days stipulated timeframe’ which has recently been allowed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for filing review petitions by the convicts against the verdicts in war crimes cases.Especially, the new legal debate has triggered when two top legal experts, one representing the state and another from legal professionals’ platform, gave contradictory statements about condemned convict Jamaat leader Md Kamaruzzaman, whether he would get 15 days for filing review petition. Attorney General Mahabubey Alam on Wednesday said Kamaruzzaman would not get 15 days time to file review petition, if the authorities have issued his death warrant in the meantime.But refuting the claim, President of Supreme Court Bar Association Khandaker Mahbub Hossain yesterday said, “The Appellate Division in its verdict clearly stated that the convict will get 15 days time to file review petition after release of full verdict. If he doesn’t file review then the government can take step to execute the death sentence in accordance with the law.” The Appellate Division on Tuesday released the copy of the full verdict on the rejection of the review plea filed by executed Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah along with mentioning the provisions clearly.It said: A person convicted of war crimes can file a review petition within 15 days of getting a certified copy of the apex court verdict, as the period of 30 days provided in the Appellate Division rules will not be applicable to the convict. The full verdict was released after five judges of the bench signed it. But the debate is still going on in full swing. “There is no compulsion to wait for 15 days after releasing of the full verdict. The convict must file review petition quickly after getting the full verdict. Otherwise, the government won’t wait for 15 days,” Mahabubey Alam said when he was talking to the newsmen at his office.He said, “If Kamaruzzamn files review ‘quickly’ after the release of Appellate Division’s verdict then it will be under legal procedures. In that case, the death sentence could not be executed until finalisation of the review.”When asked whether there was any scope to file review on the 14th day [out of 15 day], the AG replied, “Only the convicts who got life imprisonment will get that chance….But if the date and time of execution of Kamaruzzaman is fixed before receiving full verdict, in that case he will not get any chance to file review petition.” The chief law officer of the state further said that they will file review against the verdict of Delwar Hossain Sayedee after getting full copy of verdict from the Appellate Division. But Khandaker Mahbub Hossain yet again differed with AG’s statement, and said, “At first, we will find out the dissimilarities in the full verdict of Kamaruzzaman. Then we will go for filing a review petition. We hope, the final verdict will be changed, if there is justice.””If we can satisfy the court during the hearing of review, the highest court will decide which punishment it will give in war crime cases. It doesn’t depend on Shabagh slogans,” he mentioned. Meanwhile, the review verdict said, “The period of limitation is 15 days and the review petition should be disposed of on priority basis. The provision of 21 days and 28 days of Jail Code would not be applicable for war crimes convicts. After disposing of review petitions, the tribunal will issue the death warrant and then the convicts will only get an opportunity to seek presidential clemency.”In this backdrop, the government and the defence will also get an opportunity to file a review petition against the apex court verdict that had revised the death penalty and gave imprisonment till death to Delwar Hossain Sayedee in connection with war crimes cases.It is to be noted that the country’s legal arena had witnessed a longstanding debate over the issue since the apex court verdict against the executed Quader Mollah in December last year.
