Supreme Court releases full verdict that dismisses Nizami’s review plea

The Appellate Division has released its full verdict that dismisses war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami's review to overturn his death penalty.

The document will now be sent to Dhaka Central Jail, where the death-row convict is presently lodged, through the war crimes tribunal.

The jail authorities will then read it out to Nizami and ask him if he will seek mercy from Bangladesh’s president after admitting his guilt.

The verdict was released around 3pm Monday after the judges signed on the document, said the Appellate Division’s Additional Registrar Arunav Chakraborty.

“We will now send it to the judicial court, the International Crimes Tribunal.”

Nizami was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal on Oct 29, 2014 for atrocities committed as commander of Al-Badr, a vigilante militia that assisted the Pakistan army during Bangladesh’s Liberation War.

An Appellate bench, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, on Jan 6 upheld the maximum penalty for the Jamaat-e-Islami chief, after an appeal hearing.

His death warrant was issued by the war crimes tribunal after the Supreme Court published the full copy of its verdict on March 16.

The same bench dismissed his review petition on May 5. 

Nizami was brought to the Dhaka Central Jail from Gazipur’s Kashimpur Jail on Sunday night.

The resolution of Nizami’s review petition ended the legal battle against his conviction and death penalty. He reserves the right to seek mercy as stated in Section 49 of the Constitution.

Motiur Rahman Nizami (File Photo)

The government will ask the jail authorities to carry out the execution if he does not use the option or is denied mercy by the president. 

The members of Nizami’s family visited him in prison after the review petition was turned down. 

They, however, said nothing about the possibility of the 73-year-old seeking mercy. 

Abdul Quader Molla, who came to be known as the ‘Butcher of Mirpur’ for rapes and murders during the Liberation War, was the

first to be executed

after being condemned by the first tribunal, set up in 2010. 

The Jamaat assistant secretary general was hanged in the Dhaka Central Jail on Dec 12, 2013. 

Md Kamaruzzaman, another assistant secretary general of the party that has been dubbed as

a ‘criminal organisation’

by the tribunal, was the

second to be hanged

, on Apr 11, 2015, for crimes against humanity. 

The review petitions of both men had been heard and dismissed within a day.

The government, before going ahead with their execution, said they had not sought presidential mercy.     

Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury were

sent to the gallows

together on Nov 21, 2015 after being denied mercy by the president, the government had said. 

The Appellate Division is due to hear review petitions filed by both the prosecution and defence for the case of another top Jamaat leader, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, whose sentence was reduced from death to imprisonment until death following an appeal.