Prison authorities receive Kamaruzzaman verdict

Dhaka Central Jail authorities on Wednesday afternoon received the copy of the Supreme Court verdict rejecting the review plea sought by condemned convict war criminal M Kamaruzzaman. International Crimes Tribunal’s deputy registrar Akhtaruzzaman carried the Supreme Court verdict to the jail authorities. He also sent the copy of the SC verdict to the Dhaka District Magistrate, Home Ministry, Law Ministry, Attorney General and counsel for M Kamruzzaman. Sources at the central jail said the copy of the judgment was received at the jail gate at about 5:45 Pm. Later, the jail authorities read it out in front of Kamaruzzaman at the condemned cell. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday rejected Jamaat senior assistant secretary general M Kamaruzzaman’s review petition against its previous verdict upholding the death penalty handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 for his war crimes. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, dismissed the review petition of the Jamaat leader. On May 9, 2013, the tribunal condemned Jamaat leader M Kamaruzzaman, a 1971 operator of infamous Al Badr vigilante outfit, to death for his crimes against humanity, including murder, abduction, torture, rape and mass killing during the Liberation War. The Supreme Court on November 3 last year upheld the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had condemned the Jamaat leader to death. On February 18, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued a death warrant for Kamaruzzaman after receiving the full text of the Supreme Court verdict that upheld his death penalty for his crimes against humanity during 1971. On the same day, the prison authorities read out the death warrant to Kamaruzzaman. – UNB, Dhaka.