Nizami’s death penalty upheld

The Supreme Court has upheld death sentence for condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

A four-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha gave the verdict on Thursday morning, rejecting Nizami’s appeal to review his death penalty. 

Nizami filed the petition on March 29 seeking acquittal. The International Crimes Tribunal issued his death warrant on March 15 after the Appellate Division of Supreme Court released its full verdict.

On 29 October 2014, the ICT-1 sentenced Nizami to death for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.

The tribunal sentenced Nizami, the 1971 commander-in-chief of Al Badr, a secret killing squad of Jamaat-e-Islami, the capital punishment each on four counts of charges of war crimes, terming Al Badr a criminal outfit.

Nizami filed an appeal with the SC on 23 November 2014 challenging the death sentence and claimed himself innocent and sought to be cleared of the charges.