The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of two convicts – Anwar Hossain and Rashedul Islam alias Jhantu - in the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) leader Kazi Aref murder case.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order yesterday, rejecting review petitions filed by the two.
Aref, one of the key organisers of the 1971 Liberation War and then JSD president, was killed in an attack at a rally at Kalidaspur village under Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia on February 16, 1999.
Four more men - JSD Kushtia unit president Lokman Hossain, general secretary Yakub Ali, and local JSD leaders Shamser Ali and Israil Hossain – also died in the attack.
Additional Attorney General Momtazuddin Fakir stood for the state while Khandakar Mahbub Hossain represented the defence during yesterday’s hearing.
On August 30, 2004, Fazlur Rahman, the then additional district and sessions judge of Kushtia, pronounced the verdict in the case, sentencing 10 people to death and 12 others to life imprisonment. Three were acquitted and case proceedings were stayed against another accused in compliance with a High Court order.
Those awarded the death penalty were Iliyas Hossain, Sahir Uddin, Baker, Mannan Mollah, Anwar Hossain, Rashedul Islam Jhantu, Jahan Ali, Jalal, Safayat Hossain and Roushan.
Of them, Anwar, Jhantu and Iliyas are now behind bars while Mannan, Jahan, Jalal and Baker have been in hiding. Roushan was killed in a “shootout” with police on August 27, 2006.
On September 25, 2004, the jailed convicts appealed to the High Court against the lower court verdict.
However, a High Court bench on 5 August, 2008, acquitted all 12 who were given life sentence and Sahir while upholding the punishment of others.
The three death row inmates then appealed to the Appellate Division against the High Court verdict. The state also appealed against the High Court verdict for those who had been acquitted.
On August 7, 2011, the Appellate Division dismissed all the appeals filed by both parties.
On April 17, 2012, Anwar and Jhantu filed review petitions and the Supreme Court stayed their execution after the primary hearing.
Additional Attorney General Momtazuddin Fakir told reporters yesterday that the convicts can now seek presidential mercy.
“If they choose not to do so, the jail authorities can execute them any day,” he added.
M Masud Rana, counsel for the convicts, said his clients would take decision whether to seek mercy from the president after receiving the full copy of the Supreme Court judgment.
