Any decision after asking Mir Quasem about mercy petition Thursday, IG Prisons says

Authorities will again ask death-row war crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali on Thursday if and when he will be filing a mercy petition to the president, says IG Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin.

"Mir Quasem has requested some time to think about it. We will ask him again tomorrow morning," he told the media on Wednesday outside Gazipur's Kashimpur prison, where the war criminal has been kept.

Earlier on Wednesday, the IG prisons told journalists the Supreme Court verdict rejecting the petition to review his death sentence was read out to him at 7:30am.

"He wanted some time, he said he wants to think about it," Iftekhar had said then.

After visiting the Kashimpur prison in the evening, he said as per the jail code, a death-row convict usually gets a maximum of seven days to file a mercy petition.

"But he has been tried under a different law formulated for the International Crimes Tribunal and the issue of mercy petition is not clearly mentioned in it."

Iftekhar said since seven days are given in regular cases, it can be concluded that Mir Quasem will get the same time.

Asked if he is denied pardon, where the execution will take place, the top prisons official said it was yet to be decided. "But all the jails have preparations for doing this sort of job at any given time."