Kamaruzzaman to file review petition today

Condemned war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman will file a review petition with the Supreme Court today, the last day of lodging the petition, against its verdict that upheld his death penalty for his crimes against humanity in 1971.

His lawyer advocate Shishir Manir said after he along with four other solicitors held a meeting with Kamaruzzaman at Dhaka Central Jail yesterday morning.

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A convicted war criminal can seek review of the verdict on the appeal in 15 days since receiving the certified copy of the judgment or being informed about it, said the SC in its full judgment on two review petitions filed by executed war criminal Quader Mollah.

Kamaruzzaman, senior assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, will decide whether he will seek presidential mercy after consulting his lawyers if his review petition is rejected, he said, quoting his client.

During the half hour meeting, the Jamaat leader claimed to be innocent, saying he was not involved in any wartime offences labelled against him, said Shishir.

Kamaruzzaman hoped he would get acquittal in the judgment on the review petition, the lawyer said, adding that his client was both mentally and physically well.

Four other counsels, who met the Jamaat leader, are Tajul Islam, Ehsan A Siddiq, Najibur Rahman and Motiur Rahman Akand.

The prison authorities read Kamaruzzaman's death warrant out to him on February 19, the day the International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued the warrant. The SC released the verdict's full text the previous day.

On November 3, last year, the SC upheld the May 9, 2013, death penalty handed down by the ICT-2 for crimes that Kamaruzzaman committed against humanity during the Liberation War.

The 63-year-old Jamaat leader was found guilty of mass killing, murder, abduction, torture, rape, persecution and abetment of torture in greater Mymensingh district in 1971.