Jamaat chief’s execution imminent

Nizami shifted to Dhaka jail as Bangla starts countdown

Fundamen-talist Jamaat-e-Islami chi-ef Motiur Rahman Nizami’s execution seemed imminent after jail officials on Monday received the Supreme Court ruling reconfirming his death penalty for war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.

“The jail authorities have received the court verdict for further action,” an official, who carried the apex court’s verdict wrapped in a red coloured folder, said.

The development came nearly two hours after Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinhaled four judges bench signed the full text of the judgment, dismissing Nizami’s final review plea.

73-year-old Nizami’s final appeal against his death sentence for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan was rejected by the apex court on May 5.

The Supreme Court officials immediately sent copies of the final judgment to Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, which originally handed down the death penalty.

Attorney-general Mahbubey Alam said Nizami, the leader of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party, could now be hanged anytime unless he seeks presidential clemency.

“He will have to be given a reasonable time to take the decision...But if the answer is ‘no’, the government could hang him anytime,” he said.

Jamaat on Saturday, however, said: “question doesn’t arise at all to seek mercy to anybody else except Allah”.

Nizami’s his eldest son and lawyer Najib Momen supplemented the party statement, saying “he (Nizami) will not seek clemency to the President”.

Authorities on Sunday shifted Nizami to Central Jail from a suburban prison, signalling his imminent execution.

Meanwhile, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion forces overnight joined the police in riot gears to enforce a tight vigil around the Central Jail.