'Commute Nizami's death sentence if found guilty'

A lawyer of war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami appealed to the Supreme Court to commute his client’s death sentence to life term imprisonment if he is found guilty for committing crimes during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

Nizami’ counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain made the urge to the Appellate Division after the court concluded hearing defence’s arguments on appeal filed by Nizami challenging his death penalty awarded to him for wartime offences.

Earlier, he prayed to the apex court to acquit Nizami of all the charges saying that he was not directly involved in any of the charges brought against him.

The four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha fixed December 7 for resuming hearing on the appeal. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam will place arguments on that day.

Nizami was a student in the 1971 war and he was not capable of showing the roads and ways to the Pakistani army for committing the offences, Khandaker Mahbub told the court during today’s hearing.

READ MORE: Nizami appeals to SC against death penalty

Today was the ninth day of hearing.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 29, 2014 found Nizami guilty on eight of the 16 charges brought against him and handed him the death penalty on four charges and life imprisonment on the other four.

Nizami filed the appeal on November 23 last year.

On September 9 this year the four-member bench started hearing the appeal.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam

After today’s hearing, Attorney general Mahbubey Alam told the reporters that Nizami apparently confessed to his guilt of war crimes praying to the apex court to commute his death penalty.

“This is for the first time a war crimes convict has confessed to his guilt. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether it will commute his death penalty,” the attorney general said at his office.

Replying to a query about BNP’s reaction over Pakistan’s statement on Liberation War, Mahbubey Alam said BNP act intelligently by protesting the Pakistani statement denying that atrocity of war crimes in Bangladesh in 1971.

“If BNP did not protest the statement, the party would have lost its existence,” he said.

Yesterday, the BNP said the Pakistan government was trying to conceal the truth about the 1971 genocide.

Pakistan on Monday summoned acting high commissioner of Bangladesh Maushumi Rahman to its foreign ministry and denied committing any war crimes or atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War.