Dhaka : Lawyers for Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman filed a petition on Thursday to review a verdict that upheld his death sentence for war crimes.
Counsel Shishir Monir confirmed that the review petition has been filed, bdnews24.com reported.
On Wednesday, five defence counsels visited Kamaruzzaman at Dhaka Central Jail.
“Kamaruzzaman was provided with a copy of the verdict and he has read it. One of the justices held different views in the verdict and our review plea will follow his points,” a defence counsel said.
Kamaruzzaman, the then acting president of Islami Chhatra Sangha in Mymensingh in 1971, was the “chief organiser” of the Al Badr in the region during the country’s Liberation War.
In May 2013, he was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 after it found him guilty of five of the seven charges levelled against him by the prosecution.
Vigilante militia Al Badr was formed to assist the Pakistan army to thwart Bangladesh’s freedom struggle, the court observed.
Kamaruzzaman was awarded death on two charges — the murder of journalist Golam Mostafa and the killing of 120 men and raping of women at Shohaghpur village at Sherpur’s Nalitabari on July 25, 1971.
His death sentence was upheld in November 2014. But the court reduced the death sentence awarded for the murder of Golam Mostafa, after torture and confinement, to life.
The three judges of ICT-2 signed his death warrant on February 19 after the Supreme Court’s full verdict was released. The death warrant was read out to Kamaruzzaman after it was sent to prison.
The law allows him to file a review against the Supreme Court’s verdict within 15 days after the publication of the full verdict.