Wait for review petitions starts as full verdicts against Salauddin, Mujahid published

After the publication of the full verdicts upholding their death sentences, war criminals BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid now have 15 days to file review petitions.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the government could start the process of their execution by the time they filed the petitions.

The process, however, would be halted once they filed the petitions, he said.

Jamaat Secretary General Mujahid’s lawyer Shishir Munir said they would file a review petition.

He also said any step by the authorities to execute the sentence before resolution of the review petition would be against the law.

He also disagreed with the attorney general that the counting of the 15-day period would start from the date of the publication of the full verdict that is Wednesday.

Munir said the count would start after they received a copy of the verdict.

The state’s chief counsel Alam said the court could hear the review petition during the vacation in October.

Otherwise, the hearing would be held in November.

If the review petitions do not change the verdict, the two former ministers will have the scope to seek mercy from the president.

If they do not seek precedential clemency, or the president does not pardon them, the government will arrange their execution through the jail authorities.

The reviews of the death sentences of Jamaat assistant secretaries general Abdul Quader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman did not make any change in the verdicts.

The government said they did not seek president’s pardon.

Molla was hanged on Dec 12, 2013, and Kamaruzzaman on Apr 11 this year.

The Appellate Division issued the verdict against BNP leader Chowdhury on July 29 and Mujahid on June 16.

After the full verdicts were published on Wednesday, Attorney General Alam told reporters there was no bar now to proceed with the execution process.

“The laws do not say that the state will sit idle waiting for their filing of the review petitions. They are given 15 days to file the petitions, but it is not said that the state will have to wait for 15 days,” Alam said.

“But,” he added, “If the defence or the convict files the review petition by that time, the process of execution will stop automatically.”

Mujahid’s lawyer Munir said: “We’ll file the review petition within 15 days. The petition will be placed in the cause list and then it will be heard. A verdict will be issued after the petition’s resolution. The execution will depend on that verdict.”

“The authorities have no other but to follow this procedure. If they take any step that will be beyond their jurisdiction,” he added.

About the starting of the countdown of the 15-day period, Munir said, “According to the verdict that dismissed the review petition of Quader Molla, the period will start on the day of receiving the attested copy of the verdict or the day of reading out the verdict to the convict, whatever occurs first.”

“It means that the period is not starting from today (Wednesday). Because we are yet to get a copy of the verdict and it has not reached the jail yet,” he said.

The ICT verdict against Molla did not mention the issue of review petition, creating confusion.

The Supreme Court then ordered that both the defence and the state could file petition seeking review of the verdict.

It said the court will agree to rethink the ruling only if it doubts the verdict’s ‘reliability’ or if there are chances of a miscarriage of justice.

But the review will never be equated to an appeal, it added.

Attorney General Alam said: “The count will start on the day of the signing...from Wednesday.”

“The count will start because his lawyers already know about the publication of the verdict. The copies of the verdict will also be sent. My office, the Tribunal, the jail will receive it,” he said.

Copies of the full verdicts against Chowdhury and Mujahid reached the International Crimes Tribunal later on Wednesday.

Tribunal Registrar Shahidul Alam Jhinuk said they would be placed before the tribunal on Thursday.

“The attested copies will also be sent to the jail authorities; and the home ministry will be informed,” he said.