Bangladesh SC upholds death penalty for Jamaat leader Kamaruzzaman

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court gave death penalty to the former al-Badr man convicted for commiting genocide, rape and dacoity.

The four member Appellate Division of the apex court headed by Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha pronounced the verdict on the appeal filed by 62-year-old Kamaruzzaman against the death penalty handed down to him in May last year by a special war crime tribunal.

The decision comes within a week after Jamaat Chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and another top leader of the party Mir Quasem Ali were both sentenced to death for atrocities committed during the 1971 liberation war.

Nizami was sentenced to death by the tribunal last Wednesday while its key financier Mir Quasem Ali was handed the death penalty on Sunday.

It has been learnt that the Supreme Court's rejection of Mohammad Kamaruzzaman's appeal means that he will now be hanged within months.

According to media reports, prosecution lawyers however said that Kamaruzzaman could now only seek presidential clemency to overturn the verdict as under the law he has no other legal option to get the judgment reviewed.

"We are extremely disappointed," defence lawyer Tajul Islam has reportedly told AFP after Monday's judgement, adding that they would appeal for a review as the death sentence was upheld by a majority decision.

The Supreme Court earlier reduced the capital punishment handed down by the tribunal to life imprisonment in one of the cases and in another case the apex court upheld the death penalty of another convict.

Kamaruzzaman, assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami, will be the second senior Islamist to be hanged for crimes committed during the war.

Last December, another senior Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Molla, was executed after being convicted on similar charges by tribunal.

Apart from them, two others were now living in the US and Britain and some cases were pending before the Supreme Court for review.

Kamaruzzaman, along with nine other senior members from Jamaat were charged on seven counts of crimes against humanity during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

The prosecution was centred around a mass killing at the border town of Sohagpur, which has become known as the 'Village of Widows', after at least 120 unarmed farmers were lined up and slaughtered in paddy fields.

Three of the widows testified against him during his trial.

In May 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced him to death after it found him guilty of crimes against humanity including genocide, killing, rape, looting, arson, and deportation of people during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

However, he denied the charges and said that the trial was politically motivated.

Media reported, Jamaat-e-Islami has called 48-hour countrywide-shutdown in protest against the death penalty for its leader Kamaruzzaman.

The strike will begin at 6am, Wednesday and end at 6am, Friday.

Jamaat's acting chief Mokbul Ahmed and acting secretary general Dr Shafiqur Rahman issued a statement on Monday morning, immediately after the verdict was pronounced.

In the mean while, security has been beefed up in Dhaka and other major cities across the country.  Previous judgments by the tribunal had also sparked off violent clashes between the police and Jamaat-e-Islami supporters.