Verdict read out to Nizami

The Dhaka Central Jail authorities read out before Motiur Rahman Nizami the Supreme Court judgement dismissing his appeal seeking review of SC ruling upholding his death penalty.

The prisons authorities read out the verdict around 8:00pm, an hour after the copy of the verdict reached the jail. Nizami has been kept at Rajanigandha condemned cell of the jail.

Jahangir Kabir, senior jail super of the prison, confirmed this to The Daily Star. 

Earlier, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sent the copy of Supreme Court verdict to the jail.

“The copies were sent to both Dhaka jail and the office of district magistrate in Dhaka for necessary action,” Shahidul Alam Jhinuk, registrar of the tribunal told The Daily Star.

Keshob Roy Chowdhury, deputy registrar of the ICT, handed over the copy of the verdict to Senior Jail Supper Jahangir Kabir, jail sources said.

Keshob Roy along with two officials and two staff of the tribunal went to the jail gait around 6:55pm and handed over the copy of verdict.

ICT also sent copy to the home ministry and the law ministry for information, he added.

The full text of the SC judgement reached International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which tried him and awarded death penalty for the 1971 wartime offences, at 5:08pm, sources said.

Supreme Court released the verdict earlier in the day after the judges concerned signed on it, Additional Registrar of the High Court division Sabbir Faiz confirmed The Daily Star.

The final straw that Nizami now has is to seek mercy from the president.

READ MORE: Nizami brought to Dhaka jail

On receiving the verdict, jail authorities will ask Nizami whether he will seek presidential clemency, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam had earlier said. If not, they will execute Nizami.

In a statement issued this evening, New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Bangladesh authorities to suspend the death sentence against Nizami “with immediate effect”.

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“Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an irreversible, degrading, and cruel punishment,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Meanwhile, Nizami, the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami – a party that opposed Bangladesh’s birth in 1971 – was taken to Dhaka Central Jail where execution of the war criminals were carried out earlier.

Previously, Jamaat leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman was executed five days after the dismissal of his review plea while Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were hanged after three days.

The SC on May 5 dismissed Nizami’s petition for reviewing its verdict that upheld his death penalty given by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in 2014 for war crimes.