The lawyers of convicted war criminal Matiur Rahman Nizami have urged the Supreme Court to commute their client’s death sentence to life term imprisonment if he is found guilty for crimes against humanity.
Nizami’s counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain placed the appeal to the Appellate Division on Wednesday, after the court concluded hearing defence arguments on the appeal filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami chief.
Read more: SC hears Nizami appeal for fourth day
During the arguments, he however sought Nizami's acquittal of all the charges saying that he was not directly involved in any of the criminal charges brought against him.
The four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha fixed December 7 for resuming the next hearing on the appeal.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam is set to place arguments on that day.
The war crimes tribunal on October 29, 2014 sentenced Nizami to death after he was found guilty in eight of the 16 charges brought against him.
While delivering verdict, the tribunal noted that the crimes he had committed intended to “demean the human civilisation.”
“No punishment other than death [for Nizami] will be equal to the horrendous crimes for which the accused has been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt,” the tribunal said in its verdict.
Nizami filed the appeal with the SC on November 23, 2014.
Police arrested Nizami on June 29, 2010 in a criminal case and later showed him arrested in war crimes cases on August 2, 2010.
