Condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami yesterday lodged a petition seeking review of the Appellate Division verdict that upheld his death sentence.
In the 70-page petition filed through his lawyer, Nizami has prayed to the Appellate Division of Supreme Court to acquit him of all the charges. The convict has cited 46 grounds, his counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain said.
Mahbub, also an adviser to the BNP chief, said that the appeals court had not evaluated some grounds while evaluating the witness accounts. “We are hopeful that he will be acquitted on the two charges he was sentenced to death. On another charge he was given death though he was not directly involved,” the counsel said.
“If the court considers the facts, he will be acquitted,” he said.
On the other hand, Additional Attorney General Murad-e-Reza told reporters that the state would soon take steps for holding the hearing.
“We think that the apex court will reject the review petition. It has upheld the conviction examining all the witness accounts, evidence and documents. There is no scope of rehearing those. The court will see if there is any mistake in the sentences,” he said.
As per the rules, a war crimes convict can file a review petition within 15 days after receiving the full verdict. Nizami has filed it a day before the deadline.
If the review petition is rejected, the government may start the process of executing the death sentence given by the International Crimes Tribunal. The convict will get a last chance to live seeking presidential clemency admitting his guilts.
If the convict does not seek mercy or the mercy is not accepted, the government will hang him to death at a convenient time.
The tribunal issued the death warrant for Nizami on March 15, the day when the Appellate Division released its full verdict.
A former minister during the 2001-06 tenure, Nizami led the notorious militia force al-Badr which collaborated with the Pakistani occupation forces to systematically eliminate noted intellectuals at the fag end of war. He was also found involved in two incidents of mass murders of over 500 people in Pabna.
