The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the convicted war criminals to seek a review of the apex court verdict.
The confusion over the issue ended as the Supreme Court released its full judgement on executed war criminal Abdul Quader Molla's review petitions on Tuesday.
SC acting registrar SM Kudduszaman made the discloser to the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday afternoon.
He said: “The copy of the full judgement on Molla's petitions have been released. The full judgement has cleared all confusions and a convicted war criminal has gotten the right to seek a review of its verdict.”
According to the SC judgement, a convicted war criminal will be allowed to filed a review petition within 15 days since the delivery of the full verdict of the appeal petition. The verdict will not be executed until the hearing ends.
In its judgement, the SC stated: “The period of limitation provided in the Appellate Division rule will not be applicable in respect of a review petition from a judgement on appeal under the act of 1973.”
“The period of limitation is 15 days and the review petition should be disposed off on priority basis.”
The full judgement has cleared all confusions whether a convicted war criminal has the right to seek a review of its verdict.
The debate over the issue arose in December last year when Molla filed two review petitions against the SC judgement in his case.
Debate surfaces again as other convicted war criminals, including Delawar Hossain Sayedee and Kamaruzzaman, also decided to seek a review of the apex court verdict.
Some law professionals say the convicted war criminals have the right to file the review petition as per article 105 of the constitution.
The provision states: “The Appellate Division shall have power, subject to the provisions of any Act of Parliament and of any rules made by that division, to review any judgement pronounced or order made by it.”
However, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said: “I do not think there is scope to file a review petition. The International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973 is a special act and there is no provision for filing a review plea.”
Earlier on December 8, 2013, after the full text of the verdict was released, the tribunal issued death warrant for Jamaat leader Quader Molla.
However, as the Dhaka Central Jail authorities were preparing to hang him on December 10, Molla’s counsels rushed to the chamber judge and got a stay order on the execution until 10:30am the next day, saying that they would seek a review of the death sentence.
On December 11, the Appellate Division bench received two review petitions – one of which challenged the death sentence. The petitions were rejected the following day clearing the way for executing Molla.
The full copy of the judgement on Molla’s review petition were not published. As a result, the decision of the apex court in this regard was unknown.