Attorney General Mahmubey Alam said there was no opportunity to file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict that sentenced Jamaat leader Quader Molla to death.
“The defence can only seek presidential mercy now,” he said while talking to journalists after the verdict was announced.
The defence referred to Article 105 of the Constitution which states: “The Appellate Division shall have the power, subject to the provisions of any Act of Parliament or of any rules made by that division, to review any judgment pronounced or order made by it.”
Opposing the defence view, the attorney general, said the Constitution curtails the rights of anyone who is convicted for crimes against humanity.
Referring to Article 47.3 and 47A.2 of the Constitution, he said the tribunal law does not mention review, it just gives the right to appeal.
Article 47A.2 reads: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, no person to whom a law specified in clause 3 of article 47 applies shall have the right to move the Supreme Court for any of the remedies under this Constitution.”
Article 47(3) says: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, no law nor any provision there of providing for detention, prosecution or punishment of any person, who is a member of any armed or defence or auxiliary forces or any individual, group of individuals or organisation or who is a prisoner of war, for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes and other crimes under international law shall be deemed void or unlawful, or ever to have become void or unlawful, on the ground that such law or provision of any such law is inconsistent with, or repugnant to, any of the provisions of this Constitution.”
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla to death for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
Earlier, the International Crimes Tribunal 2 had sentenced Quader Molla to life imprisonment on February 5 in two out of six charges of crimes against humanity. The Jamaat leader had been given 15 years of imprisonment each for three charges, and acquitted in one.
