The family members of war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman have been asked to meet the convicted Jamaat-e-Islami leader in prison by 5pm Saturday.
Kamaruzzaman's lawyer Shishir Monir told the Dhaka Tribune that the Dhaka Central Jail authorities asked the family members to meet the Jamaat leader urgently.
Earlier on Friday, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the death-row war crimes convict would not get more time to take decision on whether he would seek presidential mercy.
He said: “The Jamaat leader was given adequate time to file the mercy petition. Earlier in the day two magistrates visited the jail in order to talk to him over the issue. But, he is taking too much time.”
Our Correspondent Mohammad Jamil Khan reported from the spot that the security in front of the Dhaka Central Jail has been beefed up from Friday afternoon.
However around 9:30pm, the security was relaxed, said Jamil.
Two magistrates met the death row convict at Dhaka Central Jail on the same day.
On Thursday, the lawyers of condemned war criminal Kamaruzzaman have met the Jamaat-e-Islami leader as he wished to meet his lawyers.
On Wednesday, the jail authorities read out the death sentence before Kamaruzzaman after getting the copy of Monday’s judgement from the International Crimes Tribunal.
Then they asked him whether he wanted to seek mercy. Kamaruzzaman sought a day to decide on the matter and wanted to meet his counsels.
The Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha signed the copy of the judgement that dismissed Kamaruzzaman’s review petition on Wednesday afternoon.
Tribunal 2 handed down death penalty to Kamaruzzaman, a key organiser of infamous al-Badr force in greater Mymensingh in 1971, on two charges including the mass killings in Sohagpur village of Sherpur.
After holding hearing on his appeal, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal’s decision on November 3 last year but commuted his death sentence to life term on one charge.
The full text of the judgement was released on February 18 and the tribunal issued the death warrant for the convict the following day.
Kamaruzzaman appealed against the Appellate Division judgement on March 3. It was rejected after hearings on Monday.
A death row convict is executed between 21 days and 28 days after receiving the Supreme Court order.
However, the jail code is not applicable to Kamaruzzaman as he was tried under a special law, the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters.
Family members of the convict met him at jail on Monday evening.