Staff Reporter :The all out preparations have been taken to hang war crimes convict Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami.The jail authorities are awaiting for judgment copy hang the former minister in the Dhaka Central Jail, Jail Headquarters sources said. The attested copy of the verdict may reach the Jail Headquarters through International Crimes Tribunal by Monday and the sentence will be executed on Wednesday or Thursday if Nizami does not apply for president’s clemency, they said. Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami on Thursday claimed that its party chief Nizami would not seek clemency from any man except Allah. “After receiving judgement copy on Monday or before, he jail administration will start the hanging procedure,” Prasanta Kumar Banik, Jail Super of Kashimpur Central Jail Part-2 told The New Nation on Saturday. Nizami would be asked if he would seek presidential clemency, admitting his guilt, the Jail Super said. “If he decides against seeking clemency from the President, or if the President turns down his clemency petition, the government will be free to execute the death sentence,” he said. The time and place of execution depends on the government, the Jail Super said.The jail authority may execute him within two to three hours after getting instruction from the government, said Prasanta Kumar. He added that the family members will get further chance to meet Nizami before the execution. Meanwhile, a ten-member team of the family members met him at Kashimpur Central Jail Part-2 on Friday morning. Jamaat-e-Islami on Thursday claimed that its party chief Nizami would not seek clemency from any person but the Almighty Allah. The party will observe nationwide haratl today (Sunday) following the judgment. Earlier, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the death penalty to the war crimes convict Nizami. After the verdict, one of Nizami’s counsels, SM Shahjahan, said that Nizami and his family will now decide whether to seek presidential clemency.According to jail officials, Nizami heard the news of the Supreme Court rejecting his appeal on radio in his cell on Thursday afternoon. He will be executed in the Dhaka Central Jail after maintaining all legal procedures. “10 members of his family including his wife, two sons, daughter, son-in law, two daughters-in law, two nephews, grand child visited him,” Jailor Nasir Uddin of Kashimpur Central Jail said. He said that the close relatives were allowed to stay for 40 minutes with the top leader of country’s biggest Islamist party which opposed the emergence of Bangladesh.Another senior official of the prisons department said that the 73-year-old war crimes convict is likely to be executed in the Dhaka Central Jail, but simultaneous preparations were underway at Kashimpur Jail also.”The execution is likely to take place in the Dhaka Central Jail, and at the same time we have asked the officials of Kashimpur prison to remain ready to carry out the process in two hours’ notice, if required,” said the official, requesting anonymity.Nizami, a former lawmaker and minister has been in jail since 2010. He was arrested for trial in a special tribunal which handed him down death penalty on October 29, 2014 on charges of mass murder, arson, loot and rape.Nizami, who headed the infamous Al-Badr special militia, challenged the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) verdict in the Supreme Court which upheld the original judgment on January 6 this year.In his last legal efforts to save the neck, Nizami then sought to get the judgment reviewed by the apex court itself, which on Thursday dismissed his last appeal, clearing the way for him to walk to the gallows.Attorney General Mahbub-ey Alam earlier said that unlike ordinary death row convicts, Nizami could be hanged anytime as set by the government after the final verdict of the Supreme Court though he would get the chance to seek the presidential clemency.
