The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday issued a death warrant for war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader.
Jailer Nesar Ali of the Dhaka Central Jail told the Dhaka Tribune that they had received the death warrant.
“We will take further steps in line with the directives stated in the death warrant,” he added.
The judges of Tribunal 2 signed the warrant around 12pm yesterday.
An official of the tribunal left the premises around 12:50pm with the warrant, wrapped in a piece of red cloth, to hand over to the jail authorities.
The full verdict of the Kamaruzzaman’s appeal case against his death penalty was released on Wednesday. The Jamaat leader will get 13 more days from today to file a review petition.
The Appellate Division might take a week to hear and dispose of the petition, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said, after the release of the full verdict. “If it dismisses the review petition, Kamaruzzaman can seek presidential mercy to save his neck.” The top court delivered its verdict upholding the tribunal’s death penalty on November 3 last year.
The tribunal sentenced Kamaruzzaman to death on May 9, 2013, for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. Five out of seven charges were proved by the prosecution in the case.
Kamaruzzaman appealed against the judgement after a month.
The Apex Court handed down capital punishment to Kamaruzzaman for the massacre of Sherpur’s Sohagpur village, which has come to be widely known as “Bidhoba Palli,” or the village of widows, following a mass killing in 1971.
On December 12, 2013, war criminal Abdul Quader Molla was executed after completion of all legal procedures. He did not seek presidential mercy.