The Supreme Court today deferred till May 3 the hearing on the review petition filed by condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami.

The four-member bench of Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the deferment order following a time petition moved by Nizami’s lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain.

He prayed to the court to shift the date for hearing citing his personal difficulties.  

On March 29, Nizami filed the petition praying to the apex court to acquit him of all the charges on which he was found guilty and awarded death penalty.

Nizami mentioned 46 grounds in the 70-page petition.

On October 29, 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 handed down the death penalty to Nizami on four charges of war crimes, including murdering intellectuals during the Liberation War in 1971. The 71-year-old was also awarded life imprisonment on the four other charges.

The SC on January 6 this year upheld his death sentence on three charges and life term imprisonment on two other charges.

 On March 15, the apex court released the full verdict. The ICT issued death warrant for him hours after the SC had released its full verdict.

The following day, the jail authorities read out the judgment before the convict.