Three judges of Bangladesh’s second war crimes tribunal signed the warrant Thursday, a day after the top court published the full verdict.
War-time Al-Badr leader Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death on May 9, 2013 for his crimes during Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
The top court upheld the death verdict saying the crimes he committed ‘was worse than that of the Nazis’.
A four-member team led by the tribunal’s acting Registrar Md Aftab Uz Zaman took the death warrant, wrapped in a red cloth, to jail.
A prison official read it out to Kamaruzzaman.
The Jamaat-e-Islami leader asked to meet his lawyers after hearing his death warrant, Senior Jail Superintendent Farman Ali said.
“We’ll act as per the direction given in the verdict,” he told bdnews24.com.
Copies of the warrant have been sent to the home ministry and district magistrates as the process to execute the verdict is under way.
Prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum said the government would have to go ahead with the process to hang the convict.
“But,” he added, “The process will be postponed if the Supreme Court asks to do so.”
Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Kamaruzzaman can file a review petition within 15 days from Wednesday's publication of the full verdict.
But defence lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain said they would seek a review within 15 days of getting a certified copy of the top court verdict.
Kamaruzzaman, who terrorised Mymensingh during the war, can seek mercy from the president. He will also be allowed to meet his family.
The execution process would be put on hold if the defence files the review petition within the stipulated time, Law Minister Anisul Huq said.
The minister and the lawyers said the court’s decision, to be taken after reviewing the verdict, would be executed.
Another Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla was hanged in 2013 for his war crimes.
After the publication of Kamaruzzaman’s full verdict, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said he thought the government could get on with its execution.
“The Appellate Division in its verdict on review did not say the state will have to sit and wait these 15 days. Suppose, if no one files for review, will the state keep sitting idly?”
About presidential clemency, he said it was the president’s issue to resolve.
“But when the death warrant is sent to jail, the authorities usually want to know whether the convict wants to seek mercy and file a review.
“They are always given the right to seek mercy. He can seek it before filing the review but usually it comes at the end of legal processes,” the state’s top lawyer said.
But Kamaruzzaman’s lawyer Khandker Mahbub told the media on Thursday that the government would have to wait 15 days to execute the verdict even if they did not seek a review.
“The decision after the review would determine how the verdict would be executed... whether the death verdict would be upheld or a life sentence would be issued.
But in no circumstances can the Appellate Division verdict be carried out until the review petition was resolved, he said.
After the review plea was disposed of, the convict would be asked whether he would seek mercy from the president, Khandker Mahbub said.
If the convict wants to seek presidential mercy, the verdict execution will have to be put on hold until the president gave a decision, he added.