Magistrates meet Kamaruzzaman at jail

Two magistrates met war crimes death row inmate Muhammad Kamaruzzaman at Dhaka Central Jail on Friday morning to know if he would file application for presidential clemency. Dhaka deputy commissioner Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah confirmed the matter, saying magistrates – Mahbub Jamil and Tanjim Mohammad – went to the jail to meet Kamaruzzaman. They entered the jail premises around 10:00am and came out around 11:40am making no comments, a TV channel reports. They entered the jail premises a day after the state minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan said that a magistrate would visit Kamaruzzman at the condemn cell to know his decision. The state minister also said that the death row inmate had to make a decision within the day (Thursday). Meanwhile, law minister Anisul Huq on Thursday night told New Age that Kamaruzzaman was entitled to get ‘reasonable time’ to decide whether or not he would seek presidential reprieve.

He told New Age that in this regard the Appellate Division’s verdict on the review petition of Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah should be followed. At 11:00am on Thursday five defence lawyers met Kamaruzzaman at the jail and later they told waiting reporters that their client would inform the jail authorities about his decision on the issue of mercy petition. The Appellate Division on Monday dismissed the review petition of Kamaruzzaman paving the way for his execution. On November 3, 2014, the same bench of the apex court in a 3-1 decision had upheld the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Kamaruzzaman to death for his 1971 war crimes. This was the second verdict of the apex court in review petitions since December 12, 2013 when it dismissed the review petition of executed war crimes convict Abdul Quader Mollah.

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