The death warrant for the execution of condemned Bangladeshi war criminal Muhammad Quamaruzzaman was today received at Dhaka's central jail where the radical Jamaat-e-Islami leader is imprisoned.
"The order (death warrant) has reached us," a jail official said hours after reports said the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which originally tried him, issued the warrant after receiving an apex court order rejecting Quamaruzzaman's petition to review the verdict.
The official said jail authorities were set to formally ask the 63-year-old death-row convict if he wanted to seek a presidential clemency, the only formality to be exhausted before carrying out the execution.
The development came hours after four judges of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court signed the 36-page document rejecting his review petition and sent it to the tribunal which in turn issued the order for the execution.
But law minister Anisul Huq earlier said Quamaruzzaman would get a brief period to decide on seeking the presidential mercy but the Jail Code which requires the prison authorities to give at least 21 days for preparedness would not be applicable for him.
Huq added if Quamaruzzaman declined to seek mercy or the president rejects his petition, there will be no bar in hanging the convict "immediately".
"The jail code will not be applicable in this case as war criminals are tried under a special law. It is up to the government when he will be hanged after the disposal of the clemency matter," attorney general Mahbubey Alam said.
Quamaruzzaman's wife and other family members met him in jail two days ago when his elder son said he would make a decision only after formally receiving the death warrant.
The apex court on April 6 rejected Quamaruzzaman's review petition after a hearing but the four judges signed their order earlier today prompting the jail officials to prepare for execution of the convict.
The ICT earlier 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 down 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 their last ditch efforts to evade capital punishment.
