The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning began hearing on the acceptability of the review petition from condemned war crimes convict Abdul Quader Mollah.
A full bench, led by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, began the hearing around 11:40am.
Earlier, the bench started hearing on the review petition and stay order around 9:45 am in which the defence sought extension of the stay order in order to hear the review petition while the prosecution appealed to vacate the stay order.
The court opined that as the matter was now under trial, there is no need to extend the duration of the stay order.
On Tuesday night, Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain stayed the operation of the execution order of Abdul Quader Mollah until 10:30 am today (Wednesday) following a defence petition.
Mollah’s lawyers rushed to Justice Mahmud’s residence in the evening with the stay petition for stopping his execution shortly after the government announced that the Jamaat leader will be hanged at 12:01 am Wednesday.
However, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said as the chief state law officer, he was not informed of the matter. “I was not informed… I was not communicated. The order was neither passed in my presence, nor I was present before the Chief Justice,” he told a private television channel.
Contacted, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman said he knows nothing about it. “We didn’t get any notice served by the defence counsel in this regard since we’re a party to the case. They should’ve informed us about the matter.”
Mollah’s counsel Barrister Abdur Razzak rushed to the Dhaka Central Jail and handed over a copy of the stay order to the jail authorities.
All legal and procedural arrangements have been completed for the execution of the Supreme Court sentence, said State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam, adding that Mollah’s family members met him earlier in the day in the jail.
On February 5, convicting detained Jamaat leader Quader Mollah on five counts of the 1971 war crimes, the International Crimes Tribunnal-2 unanimously sentenced him to life term imprisonment.
Following the government’s appeal seeking death sentence for him, the Appellate Division on September 17 with a majority decision sentenced lifer Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Mollah to death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
The 65-year-old Jamaat leader was found guilty of the crimes against humanity, including murders of pro-liberation civilian Pallab, an inhabitant of Nawabpur in old Dhaka city, poet Meherrunnesa and her family, journalist Khandker Abu Taleb of the daily Ittefaq, and mass killings at Alubdi, and killing of Hazrat Ali, then Awami League leader, along with his wife, two minor daughters and an infant son, followed by rape.
Source: UNBConnect