Nizami appeal verdict tomorrow

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its judgment over the appeal filed by Jamaat Ameer Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, challenging his death sentence for committing crimes against humanity on Wednesday.

A four-member Appellate Division panel headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha had set the date on December 8, 2015, after conclusion of arguments by both the prosecution and defence on that day.

During concluding his arguments in the matter, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said death and only death is the appropriate sentence for the Jamaat chief as he is one of the main men behind the "boundless crime" like the killing of intellectuals.

On the other hand, Nizami`s chief counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain pleaded to commute the sentence of his client considering his age and good behavior if he is found guilty of the charges of crimes against humanity by the Appellate Division.

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 on October 29, 2014, sentenced the Jamaat chief to death as the 75-year-old convict was found guilty in eight of the total 16 charges.

It is going to be the sixth judgment of the Appellate Division over the appeal filed by convicts of crimes against humanity.

Earlier the Apex Court upheld death sentences of Abdul Quader Mollah, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury. In line with the orders of the Apex Court, these four have been executed already.

The Appellate Division, however, commuted the death sentence of Delwar Hossain Sayedee to life imprisonment.