The Supreme Court today released the full verdict upholding the death penalty for Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman in a war crimes case.
Earlier in the day, all the four SC judges, who had delivered the verdict on November 3 last year by a majority decision, signed the 577-page judgment.
They judges are Chief Justice SK Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik.
The government can now start process for executing Kamaruzzaman as the Supreme Court released the full judgment upholding his death penalty, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said after the release of the verdict.
There is no legal bar for the government to fix a date for the execution of the Jamaat’s assistant secretary general, he told The Daily Star.
He however said the execution process will be suspended if the convict files a review petition with the apex court challenging his death penalty.
Now, the SC will send its full judgment to the International Crimes Tribunal-2, which has sentenced Kamaruzzaman to death, he said.
After receiving the SC judgment, the ICT-2 will issue death warrant against Kamaruzzaman and then the jail authorities will execute him, the attorney general said.
The Jamaat leader will get 15 days from today for filing the review petition, he added.
The Appellate Division might take maximum a week for hearing and disposing of the petition, he said.
If the apex court dismisses his review petition, Kamaruzzaman can seek presidential mercy to save his neck, the top law officer of the state said.
If not, he will be execute within a day or two, the AG said, expressing hope that all the procedures regarding his execution might be finished in next three to four weeks.
The ICT-2 handed capital punishment to the key organiser of the infamous Al-Badr Bahini On May 9, 2013.
The SC upheld the death penalty to the 79-year-old for the mass killing at Sohagpur of Sherpur on July 25, 1971.
Justice SK Sinha, now the chief justice, headed the four-member SC bench.
The apex court commuted Kamaruzzaman’s death sentence to life term imprisonment for killing Golam Mostafa at Gridda Narayanpur village of Sherpur.
It also found the Jamaat-e-Islami leader guilty of two more charges relating to killing and torture, but acquitted him of another charge of killing.
The SC has so far completed the trials of two war crimes accused, while the trials of seven others are pending with it.
Source: The Daily Star
