Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal will issue a death warrant for Mohammad Kamaruzzaman once it gets a copy of the Appellate Division verdict, the attorney general has said.
Whether a summary or the full verdict will be sent depends on the Appellate Division, Mahbubey Alam said on Sunday.
“We’ll know whether the tribunal’s verdict has been upheld or altered once the tribunal gets the Appellate Division’s verdict,” he said at a media briefing at his office.
“As I’ve said before, an abridged order will do.”
On Nov 3, the top court upheld the death penalty handed down to Jamaat-e-Islami’s Assistant Secretary General Kamaruzzaman by the tribunal for his war crimes.
A day later, the attorney general said the government did not need to wait for the full verdict since the death sentence had been upheld.
Several hours later, Law Minister Anisul Huq said he had ordered the jail authority to prepare for the hanging of the war criminal.
But the defence claimed the minister went beyond his jurisdiction and said they would file a plea after reviewing the verdict. They also said they were not thinking about seeking presidential mercy before that.
Rumours that Kamaruzzaman may be executed anytime spread after the prosecution-defence spat created ambiguity.
Alam said, “Once the tribunal gets the Appellate Division order copy, it will only issue a death warrant if the death penalty is upheld. It (the warrant) will be sent to the jail.
“The convict will be informed that his sentence had been upheld and that a warrant has come.”
He said the ambiguity over filing review will be cleared once the Appellate Division’s full verdict scrapping war crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla’s review was published.
Responding to another question, Alam said, “The defence say they will file a review plea. I’ve said this before that there’s no scope for a review.”
“All confusions will be cleared once we get Quader Molla’s review verdict,” he added.
Alam further said the defence would try to do something once the verdict on Molla came out. “Then the court’s stance will be clear.”
Kamaruzzaman will get seven days to seek presidential mercy, starting from the day he is informed of the top court’s decision.
When asked if Kamaruzaman’s execution would be halted until Molla’s review verdict was published, the attorney general said: “No, unless the Appellate Division orders so.”
Source: bdnews24
