Dhaka: There is no possibility of executing the verdict against death-row war criminal M Kamaruzzaman on Monday, said senior jail super of Dhaka Central Jail Forman Ali.

‘Condemned convict Kamaruzzaman won’t be hanged today (Monday) as we’re yet to receive the copy of the verdict rejecting his review petition. So, it’s not possible to execute him today,’ he told reporters in front of the jail in the evening.

Replying to a query, Forman Ali said they do not know when the copy of the Supreme Court verdict upholding the death sentence of the war criminal will reach the prison. ‘We’ll decide about the execution of the verdict once it reaches us,’ he added.

Kamaruzzaman’s elder son Hasan Iqbal-led 11 family members met him at the jail gate at about 6:32pm on Monday.  

Prison authorities asked the family to meet Kamaruzzaman by 5:00pm.

Earlier, Hasan Iqbal told NTV Online that the deputy jailer called them at about 1:00pm and asked them to meet Kamaruzzaman.  

The Supreme Court Appellate Division upheld the death penalty awarded to Kamaruzzaman after rejecting the review petition filed by his counsels.

A four-member SC bench headed by chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdict at 9:05am.

The Appellate Division Bench fixed 5 April for the review hearing after Kamaruzzaman’s counsels sought an adjournment of the hearing on his review petitions for four weeks, on 1 April.

Kamaruzzaman filed the petition on 5 March seeking to review the death penalty.

On 9 May 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal 2 condemned Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general M Kamaruzzaman to death for his crimes against humanity, including murder, abduction, torture, rape and mass killing during the War of Independence.

On 3 November 2014, the Appellate Division upheld the tribunal’s death sentence by a short order and released its full text of the judgment on 18 February and according to the prescribed rules the review petition was filed. As a result, the execution of Kamaruzzman’s death sentence issued by the trial court remains inoperative.