UNB, Dhaka :
War crimes convict and Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami’s lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain on Wednesday told the Appellate Division that even if his client is proven guilty of any charge, he is eligible for any punishment other than the capital punishment, provided his age and health condition.
“The witnesses and evidence produced by the prosecution before the court don’t prove the crimes of the Jamaat Ameer. At the end (of the argument) I said even if the crime in any of the charges appears to be proven (to the court), the accused is eligible for any punishment other than the death sentence,” he said.
Emerging from the courtroom, Khandker Mahbub Hossain said this to reporters after he concluded placing arguments in the hearing on the appeal filed by Nizami challenging his death penalty at the Appellate Division (AD) of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, who represented the prosecution during the hearing of arguments, interpreted the concluding argument of the defence lawyer as recognition to committing the crimes.
“From their submission during the hearing…what I understood from it is that on behalf of Jamaat-e-Islami, their top lawyers have for the first time admitted that one of their accused leaders is a perpetrator.”
Earlier on November 25, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, set November 30 to start placing arguments in the appeal case of Nizami. On October 29 last year, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Nizami to death for crimes against humanity, including
genocide and the murder of intellectuals, during the Liberation War in 1971.
The tribunal sentenced Nizami, the 1971 commander-in-chief of Al Badr, a secret killing squad of Jamaate-e-Islami, the capital punishment each on four counts of charges of war crimes, terming Al Badr a criminal outfit.
Nizami filed an appeal challenging the death sentence and claimed himself innocent and sought to be cleared of the charges on November 23, 2014.
War crimes convict and Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami’s lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain on Wednesday told the Appellate Division that even if his client is proven guilty of any charge, he is eligible for any punishment other than the capital punishment, provided his age and health condition.
“The witnesses and evidence produced by the prosecution before the court don’t prove the crimes of the Jamaat Ameer. At the end (of the argument) I said even if the crime in any of the charges appears to be proven (to the court), the accused is eligible for any punishment other than the death sentence,” he said.
Emerging from the courtroom, Khandker Mahbub Hossain said this to reporters after he concluded placing arguments in the hearing on the appeal filed by Nizami challenging his death penalty at the Appellate Division (AD) of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, who represented the prosecution during the hearing of arguments, interpreted the concluding argument of the defence lawyer as recognition to committing the crimes.
“From their submission during the hearing…what I understood from it is that on behalf of Jamaat-e-Islami, their top lawyers have for the first time admitted that one of their accused leaders is a perpetrator.”
Earlier on November 25, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, set November 30 to start placing arguments in the appeal case of Nizami. On October 29 last year, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Nizami to death for crimes against humanity, including
genocide and the murder of intellectuals, during the Liberation War in 1971.
The tribunal sentenced Nizami, the 1971 commander-in-chief of Al Badr, a secret killing squad of Jamaate-e-Islami, the capital punishment each on four counts of charges of war crimes, terming Al Badr a criminal outfit.
Nizami filed an appeal challenging the death sentence and claimed himself innocent and sought to be cleared of the charges on November 23, 2014.
