Death-row war crimes convict Kamaruzzaman seeks review

Death-row convict and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers has filed a petition to review the Appellate Division verdict that upheld his death sentence for war crimes.

His lawyer Shishir Monir told journalists on Thursday that the review petition has been filed.

On Wednesday, five defence counsels visited Kamaruzzaman, who is Jamaat’s assistant secretary general, at Dhaka Central Jail.

After a meeting that lasted little less than an hour, they told journalists that they had discussed the petition and will be filing it on Thursday.

“Kamaruzzaman was provided with a copy of the Appellate Division’s verdict and he has read it. One of the justices held different views in the verdict and our review plea will follow his points,” lawyer Tajul Islam said.

Kamaruzzaman, acting President of Islami Chhatra Sangha in Mymensingh in 1971, was ‘chief organiser’ of the Al Badr in the region during the 1971 Liberation War.

In May, 2013, he was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal-2  (ICT) after it found him guilty of five of the seven charges levelled against him by the prosecution.

Vigilante militia Al Badr was formed to assist the Pakistan army to thwart Bangladesh’s freedom struggle, the court observed.

Kamaruzzaman was awarded death on two charges - the murder of Golam Mostafa and the killing of 120 men and raping of women at Sohagpur village at Sherpur’s Nalitabari on July 25, 1971.

The Appellate Division upheld his death sentence in its verdict in Nov, 2014. But it reduced the death sentence awarded for the murder of Golam Mostafa, after torture and confinement, to life.

The three judges of ICT-2 signed his death warrant on Feb 19 after the Supreme Court’s full verdict was released. The death warrant was read out to Kamaruzzaman after it was sent to prison.

The law allows him to file a review against the Supreme Court’s verdict within 15 days after the publication of the full verdict. The review will put a brake on immediate plans to carry out execution of the verdict, the law minister told reporters earlier.