Kamaruzzaman refuses to seek presidential clemency
State minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal Friday said that execution of death-row convict Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman could be carried out anytime today. The junior minister Friday evening said they were preparing to execute the court order as Kamaruzzaman refused to file an application for presidential clemency. ‘He (Kamaruzzaman) will not be allowed any more time as he refused his right to file an application for presidential mercy. We are preparing to execute the court order,’ state minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said around 8:30pm on Friday. The Appellate Division on April 6 dismissed the review petition of Kamaruzzaman, paving the way for his execution for his 1971 war crimes. Friday evening, preparatory activity to execute Kamaruzzaman later in the night was visible at the Dhaka jail. The security at the Dhaka central jail, meanwhile, was suddenly tightened, the movement in front of the jail made off-limits and senior jail officials arrived at the jail Friday evening. Two ambulances stood standby, additional chairs and tarpaulin was brought inside the jail at about 7:30pm. But about two hours later, the security was loosened and jail officials came out from jail along with the tarpaulin and chairs. Senior Jail Superintendent Forman Ali declined to comment on the execution of Kamaruzzaman and left the jail area at about 9:30pm.
The junior minister said that two magistrates met Kamaruzzaman earlier in the day and steps were being taken based on what they discussed. Dhaka deputy commissioner Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah said that magistrates – Mahbub Jamil and Tanjim Mohammad Azim- met Kamaruzzaman at Dhaka Central Jail Friday morning to know if he would file application for presidential clemency. They entered the jail premises around 10:15am and came out around 11:40am making no comments to the reporters waiting at the jail gate. When approached, Forman Ali, however, said the magistrates often come to the jail with various tasks. He claimed he did not know why the two magistrates went to the jail Friday morning. The magistrates visited Dhaka central jail a day after the state minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan said a magistrate would visit Kamaruzzman at the condemned cell to know his decision. The state minister earlier said that the death row inmate had to make a decision within the day (Thursday). Meanwhile, law minister Anisul Huq Thursday night told New Age that Kamaruzzaman was entitled to get ‘reasonable time’ to decide whether or not he would seek presidential reprieve. 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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