Staff Reporter :The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of war crimes convict Matiur Rahman Nizami, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, for his crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971.Rejecting Nizami’s appeal, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, delivered the verdict amid tight security in and around the court. The other judges of the bench are Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.The verdict removed the last legal barrier to execution of the Jamaat leader by hanging unless he is granted a presidential clemency. Three leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and one BNP leader had so far been convicted by the tribunal and executed.Nizami was accused of setting up the Al-Badr militia, a paramilitary unit accused of collaborating with the Pakistani army in large-scale killings and targeting Bangladesh’s Hindu minority and intelligentsia. He was convicted on charges of genocide, murder, torture and rape. Many of those killed during the nine-month war of secession were teachers, engineers and journalists. The SC upheld the International Crimes Tribunal-1 order that sentenced Nizami to death for committing crimes. The apex court upheld Nizami’s death penalty for three of the four counts of charges, while he was acquitted for the rest one. The SC upheld Nizami’s life term imprisonment for two charges, out of four for arrest, detention, torture, and murder of three people, including Maulana Kasim Uddin of Pabna Zila School on June 4 in 1971, complicity in torture, murder and rape at Mohammadpur Physical Training Institute in Dhaka, and murder of Badi, Rumi Jewel and Azad at Old MP Hostel in Dhaka on August 30 in 1971. The SC acquitted the Jamaat leader of two other charges.On December 8 last, the SC fixed January 6 for delivering the verdict on the appeal filed by condemned Nizami challenging the death penalty. Earlier, the defence placed their arguments on November 30, December 1 and 2 while the prosecution completed placing arguments on December 8.On October 29 in 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Nizami to death. Nizami filed an appeal challenging the death sentence and claimed himself innocent and sought to be cleared of the charges on November 23 in 2014.After receiving the full text of the verdict, Nizami will be allowed 15 days time to decide whatever he will file a review against the judgment. Otherwise, the state can move for execution.Attorney General Mahbubey Alam expressed satisfaction with the verdict. Defence lawyers, however, said that they did not get justice.After the SC verdict, Mahbubey Alam said that the verdict reflected the expectations of the nation. The Jamaat leader’s execution would be carried out after the disposal of review, if he files it, he added. He said that following the SC verdict, it has been established that Nizami was involved with the killing of intellectuals and professionals.Meanwhile, Nizami’s lawyers said that their client would take decision on the review petition. Then they would move in this regard. Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, principal lawyer for Nizami, told reporters, “The decision to file a review is entirely a personal choice of my client. If he gives consent, we will go for review.”Khandker Mahbub Hossain, also President of Supreme Court Bar Association, said that the tribunal targeted the wrong men. “The entire world knows what the Pakistan army did during the Liberation War in 1971. They committed the offence of murder, offence of arson, offence of rape, and mass killing. They are let off,” he said.
