Magistrates meet Bangla war criminal in jail

Two magistrates today met condemned Bangladeshi war criminal Muhammad Quamaruzzaman in a jail here to know whether he will seek presidential clemency, two days after the death warrant for his execution was conveyed to the radical Jamaat-e-Islami leader.
"Two executive magistrates came and met him (Quamaruzzaman) at his cell," an official of the high-security Dhaka Central Jail briefly told reporters. Witnesses said they stayed inside for over one and half hours.
The two declined to talk after they came out after meeting the 63-year old death-row convict.
The development came after State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the magistrates would be sent to the jail to know the decision of Quamaruzzaman, who is an assistant secretary general of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami.

"If he files a mercy petition then it will be forwarded to the president, otherwise, the verdict will be carried out in soonest possible time," he said yesterday.
According to jail officials, Quamaruzzaman had earlier said that he would take some time to decide on seeking the clemency.

The apex court on April 6 rejected Quamaruzzaman's review petition after a hearing but the four judges signed the order earlier today, prompting jail officials to prepare for the execution of the convict.
The ICT has handed him the death penalty for committing crimes against humanity while siding with Pakistani troops during the 1971 liberation war while the apex court headed by chief justice upheld the verdict on initial appeal.

Quamaruzzaman was found guilty of mass killing, murder, abduction, torture, rape, persecution and abetment of torture in central Mymensingh region during the 1971.
The Supreme Court on November 3 last year upheld his death penalty 18 months after the special tribunal handed him the capital punishment for crimes against humanity.
Bangladesh is trying high-profile suspects and alleged top 1971 war criminals under a special law which also allowed the convicts to seek presidential mercy in a last ditch effort to evade capital punishment.
If the execution is carried out, Quamaruzzaman would become the second Islamist hanged so far for war crimes, even though several others have been handed death sentence.