The 15-day countdown for war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami started yesterday after the Supreme Court released its full verdict that upheld the death penalty for the Jamaat-e-Islami chief.
Nizami can move a review petition with the apex court in a last ditch attempt to escape the noose. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the countdown would start from the day of receiving a copy of the full verdict. The apex court released the 153-page judgment after its four judges concerned signed the verdict.
A copy of it was uploaded on the Supreme Court's website yesterday afternoon while its official said that they would send a copy to the International Crimes Tribunal. From there, copies will be sent to jail and district magistrate. The Home Ministry will also be notified.
Bangladesh's first war crimes tribunal handed Nizami death on October 29, 2014 on four charges and life imprisonment on four other charges. He challenged the verdict at the apex court.
On January 6, a four-member Appellate Division bench upheld the tribunal's sentence for the Al-Badr chief for masterminding the killing of intellectuals and involvement in two incidents of mass killing of over 500 people in Pabna in 1971.
His death sentences were upheld on three charges and life imprisonment on two charges. He was cleared of three charges.
Nizami is the third former minister after Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury to get death penalty for his notorious role during the war.
Nizami led Jamaat's erstwhile student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha from 1966 to September 1971 and was the chief of Al-Badr, known as Pakistan army's death squad in 1971. Al-Badr members were exclusively drawn from Chhatra Sangha.
Throughout the war, he visited different areas of the country and delivered provocative speeches at rallies organised by Jamaat, Chhatra Sangha, Al-Badr and Razakars. He also wrote columns in newspapers justifying the formation of Al-Badr.
The militia, which called itself the “angel of death”, unleashed a reign of terror on pro-liberation Bangalees, killed unarmed civilians, raped women and destroyed properties during the war.
The auxiliary force of the Pakistan army made its worst example by systematically rounding up, torturing and killing the intellectuals to cripple the country at the fag end of the war.
Jamaat chief Nizami has never repented of the cold-blooded savagery. He was rehabilitated in Bangladesh politics after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 and was made a minister during the BNP-led government 2001-06 tenure.
What is next
The government may start the procedure of executing the verdict after getting verdict copies and issuing of death reference. The convict will have to file the review petition within 15 days. If his review petition is rejected, he will get a chance to seek presidential mercy. The execution processes will be halted till then.
If Nizami decides not to seek clemency or if the president denies it, he will be the second Al-Badr top leader after Mojaheed to walk the gallows finally.