Dhaka: The Bangladesh apex court will, Sunday, fix the date for hearing the review petition by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman against the death sentence handed to him for being involved in war crimes during Bangladesh`s Liberation War, media reported on Thursday.
Shishir Monir, counsel for Jamaat assistant secretary general Kamaruzzaman, filed the review petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday, bdnews24.com reported.
Following a plea by the state to hear the matter, chamber judge Justice Hasan Foez Siddique decided to give an order on the review petition on Sunday.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told bdnews24.com that it was felt that the matter needed to be heard.
"There were no defence lawyers during the hearing at the court of chamber judge. We said that this needs to be heard and the court informed us that they would let us know on Sunday," said Alam.
In May 2013, Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 after it found him guilty of five of the seven charges levelled against him.
The Supreme Court`s Appellate Division upheld the death sentence.
He has been accused of being the "chief organiser" of the Al Badr vigilante militia in the region, as the acting president of Islami Chhatra Sangha in Mymensingh city, during the 1971 Liberation War.
Al Badr was formed to assist the Pakistani army to thwart Bangladesh`s freedom struggle, the court had observed.
Three of the judges of the ICT-2 had signed his death warrant on February 19 this year after the Supreme Court published the full verdict.
The ICT is a specially constituted court set up to prosecute those who committed war crimes committed during Bangladesh`s 1971 War of Independence.
According to law, Kamaruzzaman was entitled to file a review petition against the Supreme Court`s verdict within 15 days of the publication of the full verdict.
The petition stalled the execution of the death warrant, said the attorney general.
Kamaruzzaman`s chief counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain told the media on Thursday that they had filed a 45-page review petition citing 44 arguments.
"We believe the verdict may change after the court considers our arguments," said Hossain, who was also an advisor to the opposition leader and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia.
