Apex court hears witnesses' statements in Nizami's appeal against death sentence

The Supreme Court yesterday heard statements of prosecution witnesses about three crimes against humanity charges brought against war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami.

The charges are related to torture, murder and rape at Physical Training Institute in Dhaka's Mohammadpur and Karamja village in Pabna and to the killing of 22 unarmed civilians at Dhulaura village in Pabna during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

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Yesterday, Nizami's lawyer SM Shahjahan read out the statements of prosecution witnesses about the charges before the Appellate Division of the SC during the fourth day's hearing on the appeal filed by Nizami challenging the International Crimes Tribunal-1 verdict that sentenced him to death.

The prosecution witnesses made the statements before the ICT-1 during the proceedings of the case filed on charges of committing crimes against humanity in 1971.  

The ICT-1 had sentenced Nizami to life imprisonment on charges of torture, murder and rape at Physical Training Institute and sentenced him to death on charges of offences committed at Karamja and Dhulaura.

Yesterday, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar also fixed today for the fifth day's hearing.

ICT-1 on October 29 last year handed Nizami the death penalty on four charges of war crimes, including murdering intellectuals. The 71-year-old was also awarded life imprisonment on four other charges.

On November 23 last year, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami challenged the ICT-1 verdict.