Lawyers meet death-row war crimes convict Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid

Lawyers representing death-row war crimes convict Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid have met the Jamaat-e-Islami leader at the Dhaka Central Jail on Saturday.

Five lawyers led by Shishir Monir entered the jail premises after 10:45am on Saturday and left around 11:30 am.
 
Monir told bdnews24.com on Friday that they would discuss the final verdict and explore the grounds for a review petition.
 
The Supreme Court on Wednesday published the full verdict on the appeals that challenged the capital punishment of BNP Standing Committee Member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mujahid.
 
They were then sent to the International Crimes Tribunal same day.
 
The tribunal on Thursday issued the death warrants for the two war criminals and sent them to the prison authorities.
 
The warrants were then read out to Chowdhury, 66, and Mujahid, 67, setting the process for the execution of the two in motion.
 
Both were, guilty of crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.
 
Mujahid is in Dhaka Central Jail while Chowdhury is at Gazipur’s Kashimpur prison.
 
Their lawyers earlier confirmed that they would file review petitions after receiving the copies of the final verdict.
 
Mujahid, the social welfare minister in Khaleda Zia’s BNP-Jamaat coalition Cabinet, planned and executed mass murders including those of intellectuals, scientists, academics and journalists in 1971.
 
The war crimes tribunal on Jul 17, 2013, ordered him to walk the gallows for the massacre of the intellectuals and involvement in the murder and torture of Hindus during the war.
 
Out of the seven charges levelled against him, the tribunal had found him guilty on five counts. He was given the death penalty in the first, sixth and seventh charges.

After he moved the Appellate Division against the verdict, the apex court on Jun 16 gave its verdict on Jamaat leader Mujahid, who was the former commander of Al-Badr, upholding the death penalty.
 
He now has the option to file a petition for review of the verdict within 15 days, starting from Thursday.
 
He will not be executed before the resolution of the review petition, if filed.
 
Once their review petitions are resolved and if their death sentences are upheld, the war crimes convicts can seek mercy from the president and meet family members.
 
If they are denied pardon or if they decline to appeal, the government will execute the convicts in jail.
 
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said that the government would follow the law to the letter while going ahead with the cases.