Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected the review petition on death penalty of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman for his involvement in the crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of Bangladesh.
The four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the verdict in a crowded courtroom, removing all legal bars to execute the convict.
Earlier, the Appellate Division completed hearing arguments on the review petition on April 5.
All legal procedures had been completed with the disposal of the review petition, Attorney general Mahbubey Alam told the journalists.
“Now the convict has the option to move a mercy petition for presidential clemency. If he placed the petition, the verdict cannot be executed until the settlement of the issue,” he said.
If Kamaruzzaman does not seek mercy or his prayer is rejected by the President, then the jail authority will proceed to execute the punishment,” he said.
In the case of Kamaruzzaman, there is no need to issue a fresh death warrant as it had already been issued by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) -2 in this regard on February 19, the Attorney General said.
With regards to the Appellate Division’s judgment, he said Kamaruzzaman was an Al-Badr commander in 1971. “Considering the gravity of the offence, he does not deserve any mercy. He was directly involved in the crimes against humanity. The crimes like murder, genocide and rape took place in his presence. So, the court upheld his capital punishment,” he noted.
In reply to a query, Mahbubey Alam said there was no stipulated time to submit a mercy petition. “In the verdict of Quader Mullah, the court said the convict would be given ‘logical time’ to press forward his petition. It does not mean he would get seven or 15 days time. The jail authority will allow him a certain time to file the petition,” he said, adding that jail code would not be applied in this case.
Hasan Iqbal, son of Kamaruzzaman, expressed his disappointment with the apex court’s decision, saying now there was no legal way left to save his father.
Kamaruzzaman, the Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami, was sentenced to death unanimously by the ICT-2 on two charges out of seven allegations of crimes against humanity on May 9, 2013. The two charges were Shohaghpur killing in Sherpur district and the murder of Golam Mostofa Talukder.
The 63-year-old Jamaat leader then filed appeal with the Supreme Court against the tribunal’s judgment on June 6 in the same year. The four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court also upheld his death penalty on one allegation by a 3-1 majority decision.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury sustained the death penalty on the charge of Shohaghpur killing, while Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah commuted the punishment to life imprisonment.
The death sentence for the murder of Golam Mostofa was unanimously commuted to life imprisonment.
The Appellate Division passed its judgment on November 3 last year, but released the full text of the verdict on February 18. The tribunal issued the death warrant on the following day.
The convict then moved forward a review petition seeking a reconsideration of the verdict on March 5.
Kamaruzzaman was arrested on July 13, 2010, at the Supreme Court gate and later he was shown arrested with links to crimes against humanity by the ICT.
He was an Al-Badr commander in 1971 and a top leader of the greater Mymensingh unit of Islami Chhatra Sangha (the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami).
This is the third case the Appellate Division had disposed of the appeal against the convicts on charge of crimes against humanity in 1971.
The apex court earlier increased the punishment of Abdul Quader Mollah, Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami, from life imprisonment to capital punishment, while commuted the death sentence of Nayeb-e-Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Delwar Hossain Sayedee to imprisonment till death.
Of them, Quader Mollah was executed on December 12, 2013, while Sayedee is serving his punishment.
