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The Supreme Court on Sunday will hear petitions, of the five former army officers sentenced to death for the 1975 murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, for review of the verdict last November that rejected their appeals and upheld their death sentences.
Convicted killers Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan face death by hanging in the case, possibly days away.
A special bench of three Supreme Court judges, justices BK Das, Mozammel Hossain and SK Sinha, is expected to hear their petitions.
Mohiuddin and Faruque filed review petitions on Jan 19, the deadline for their submission, their counsel Khan Saifur Rahman told reporters.
The other three, Huda, AKM Mohiuddin and Rashid, had submitted separate review petitions earlier, between Jan 10 and 12.
Chief state counsel Anisul Haque said at the time that hearing on all the review petitions would be held simultaneously on Jan 24. Haque has also said that review petitions rarely result in any change of verdict.
The Supreme Court last year, concluding years of proceedings, rejected the appeals of the five jailed killers and upheld the High Court's death penalties in the case. It gave its verdict on Nov 19 last year after 29 days of hearings on the appeals that began on Oct 15.
The court released the full 417-page judgement on Dec 17, making way for the next phase of legal procedures, including issuance of death warrants and review and clemency petitions by the condemned men.
The Dhaka district and sessions judge to issue the death warrants, which it did on Jan 3.
Prison authorities at Dhaka Central Jail, where the convicted killers are being held in condemned cells, began preparations for execution of the death penalties on issuance of the death warrants. Sentences must legally be executed between 21 and 28 days of the warrants being issued.
CLEMENCY PLEAS OF 3 REJECTED
Meanwhile, clemency pleas to the president of three of the five convicts have been rejected by president Zillur Rahman, Mohammed Shafiul Alam, secretary to the president, told bdnews24.com on Jan 18.
Inspector general of prisons Brig Gen Md Ashraful Islam Khan told a press briefing on Jan 9 that uda, Mohiuddin Ahmed and AKM Mohiuddin had submitted mercy petitions.
Law minister Shafique Ahmed earlier this month had opined: "Death convicts usually do not get clemency. The people involved with the heinous act of killing Bangabandhu and his family members cannot be forgiven."
The minister also refuted allegations that three convicts were forced to put their signatures to the clemency petitions.
"There is no truth in such information. We did not press anybody for anything. A certain quarter is spreading rumours," he added.
The comment came after family and legal counsel of Huda and AKM Mohiuddin said they knew nothing about the clemency pleas. Lawyer for the two, barrister Abdullah Al Mamun questioned the process of submission of the petitions.
"It is mandatory that lawyers and relatives should be present while mercy petitions are submitted. But we do not know anything of them," he had said at the time.
Faruque and Rashid have not sought clemency yet.
EU ' AGAINST DEATH PENALTY' IN THE CASE
On the eve of the review petitions hearing and in the backdrop of preparations for the executions, the European Union issued a statement on Saturday saying it opposes death penalties in cases of "politically motivated murders" in Bangladesh.
The statement referred to the Mujib murder case as well ongoing BDR mutiny trials and preparations for trying 1971 war crimes.
"The European Union is paying close attention to the various judicial proceedings in Bangladesh this year concerning politically-motivated murders," EU ambassador to Bangladesh Stefan Frowein said in the statement.
"This statement applies to trials for all such crimes, notably: the 1975 murders of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members and others, murders committed during the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny, and potentially also war crimes committed during the country's struggle for independence," he said.
The EU justified the statement saying it was "opposed on principle to the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances".
"The abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights, and the EU reaffirms its commitment to work for the universal abolition of the death penalty", it said.
The statement also said, "We welcome the respect being shown in Bangladesh for the principle that judicial proceedings be free from political interference.
Amnesty International issued a similar statement in November soon after the Supreme Court rejected the appeals of the five convicted killers. The international rights watchdog called on Bangladesh to commute their death penalties.
'NO COMMENT'
Law minister Shafique Ahmed told bdnews24.com Saturday that he was unaware of the EU statement on Bangladesh's internal affairs. He declined to comment on it.
However, Suranjit Sengupta, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on law, told bdnews24.com: "They have expressed their concerns."
"As far as we are concerned, we are guided by our principles, law and administration of justice," he said.
"Bangladesh will follow its own legal process and its ethical position."
As far as the EU's stance, he said, "Our cases are totally different, and these brutal, motivated and political murders demand high profile trials in line with our existing laws."
LONG-AWAITED JUDGEMENT
The Supreme Court Appellate Division, in its long-awaited verdict, censured the failure to act of subsequent governments in bringing Sheikh Mujib's killers to justice.
The court also judged "that there was no scope to commute the death sentence for the brutal and hateful killing."
After analysing all the evidence, the Appellate Division decided that the death sentence was appropriate, attorney general Mahbubey Alam said on release of the full judgement in December.
The long pending appeals process finally resumed on Oct 15 last year, 34 years after Sheikh Mujib's assassination. The appeals court took 29 days to hear all arguments.
The case's progress has depended upon political dispensation during the past decades. Justice was denied immediately after the assassination, with the notorious indemnity ordinance.
The Awami League government revoked the indemnity ordinance in 1996 and cleared the way for the trial. The case was finally filed on Oct 2, 1996 with Dhanmondi Police Station against 24 persons.
On Nov 8, 1998, Dhaka sessions judge Golam Rasul sentenced 15 of the accused to death. The High Court later upheld death sentences for 12.
The proceedings resumed after a long gap with the return to power of Mujib's elder daughter, Hasina, in January last year. The final appeals process had slowed down and came to a halt during her rival Khaleda Zia's rule at the head of a BNP-led coalition between 2001-06.
As five of the convicted killers face death by hanging, six others remain fugitives from justice abroad while the twelfth condemned man died abroad.
The absconding are Lt Col (retd) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, in Pakistan, Lt Col (retd) Shariful Haque Dalim, in Canada, Lt Col (retd) A M Rashed Chowdhury, in South Africa, Lt Col (retd) S H B M Noor Chowdhury, in the US, Risaldar Moslemuddin in Thailand and Capt (retd) Abdul Majed, in Kenya. Lt Col (retd) Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe.
Source: bdnews24.com
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