UNB, Dhaka: Jamaat-e-Islami has called a 48-hour countrywide hartal from Tuesday protesting the Supreme Court’s rejection of death-row war crimes convict Kamaruzzaman’s review petition against its previous verdict in favour of his death penalty that was earlier awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2). Jamaat-e-Islami acting ameer Makbul Ahmad announced the shutdown through a press statement on Monday. The shutdown will begin at 6:00 am on Tuesday and will end at 6:00 am on Thursday. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, on Monday rejected Kamaruzzaman’s review petition against its previous verdict in favour of his death penalty that was earlier awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2). The Appellate Division concluded hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence on Sunday and fixed today for the delivery of the judgment. Earlier, on April 1, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court had deferred the death-row war criminal M Kamaruzzaman’s review petition hearing to April 5 (Sunday). The Appellate Division on March 9 had fixed April 1 for hearing on the review petition of M Kamaruzzaman, also the Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general. Kamaruzzaman filed a petition on March 5 seeking review of the Appellate Division judgment upholding the death sentence awarded by the tribunal for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. On May 9, 2013, the tribunal condemned the Jamaat leader M Kamaruzzaman, a 1971 operator of infamous Al Badr vigilante outfit, to death for his crimes against humanity, including murder, abduction, torture, rape and mass killing during the Liberation War. On November 3 last year, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had condemned the Jamaat leader to death. On February 18, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued a death warrant for Kamaruzzaman after receiving the full text of the Supreme Court verdict that upheld his death penalty for his crimes against humanity during 1971. On the same day, the prison authorities read out the death warrant to Kamaruzzaman.
