Family members of war crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla met him in Dhaka Central Jail on Thursday.
bdnews24.com Correspondent Kamal Hossain Talukder from the jail gate said 10 people in a white microbus arrived there at 6:15pm.
They included Molla’s wife Sanoara Jahan, son Hasan Jamil and four daughters.
After they came out around 7:15pm, Jamil told reporters that prison authorities approved their request for a meeting.
But lawyers of Quader Molla say they have been refused a meeting with their client.
“When his family met him, he told them he wanted a meeting with us. So we sought a meeting with him but our request has been turned down,” said Molla’s defence lawyer Tajul Islam.
“I don’t think it is going to be possible for us to meet him,” Islam said.
Security have also been beefed up in front of the jail after the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division rejected the Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General’s petition for a review of the death penalty earlier in the day.
The hearing took place after the Chamber Judge stayed Molla’s execution on Tuesday night after his lawyers moved the review petition on the death sentence given by the Appellate Division.
As many as 23 members of Molla’s family had also met him around 8pm on Tuesday when the prison authorities started preparing to carry out the death sentence at one minute past midnight.
The jail officials had sent a letter to the family asking them to meet the Jamaat leader by 8pm that day.
But on Thursday the family requested the meeting, which may be the last time they see Molla.
Hasan Jamil said his father had sought to meet with his lawyers.
Asked whether Molla would seek presidential clemency, which is the last resort for the Jamaat leader to save his life, Jamil said that Molla would decide after seven days.
“According to the jail code, he has seven days to file a mercy petition. He will decide at the end of the deadline whether he would seek mercy. That’s why he has requested to meet his lawyers.”
A letter from Molla defence team was also sent to the prison authorities seeking permission to meet the Jamaat leader.
“Through his family, we have come to know that he wants to meet his lawyers. We would like to meet our client tonight [Thursday night] or at 11am tomorrow [Friday] following his wish,” the letter read.
But the prison authorities, however, turned down their plea.
On Tuesday, State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam had said prison authorities had asked Abdul Quader Molla twice whether he would seek presidential pardon. But Molla refused, he said.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Thursday said there were no chances left for Molla to seek pardon.
Molla’s family, however, has claimed that he was given death penalty through a ‘motivated trial’.
Jamil on Tuesday had told reporters, “This is going to be a political killing. He did not get justice.”
Molla, convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War, was scheduled to be hanged at 12:01am on Wednesday.
But the Supreme Court Chamber Judge, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain around 10:30pm Tuesday halted the execution process until 10:30am Wednesday after Molla’s lawyers moved him.
The Supreme Court heard the petition to review Molla’s death sentence on Wednesday and Thursday.
Later, the court on Thursday rejected the plea clearing the path to go ahead with the execution.
Source: Bd news24
