Govt to seek review by tomorrow

The government will move a review petition before the Supreme Court by tomorrow, seeking death penalty for convicted war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said.

Life term is not enough for the crimes Sayedee committed during the Liberation War in 1971.

“We want [Sayedee's] capital punishment,” Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star yesterday.

Masood Sayedee, son of the Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-ameer, said their lawyers with permission from the jail authorities would meet his father in jail today or tomorrow, and upon consulting with them, his father would decide whether to seek a review of the judgment or not.

Earlier, defence lawyers told reporters that they would file a review petition against the verdict.

Masood, however, said, “Situation is different now. So we will make the decision upon consulting with my father.”

The war crimes tribunal in February 2013 condemned Sayedee to death. Following an appeal against the judgment, the Apex Court in September 2014 commuted the death penalty of the Jamaat leader to imprisonment until death.

On December 31 last year, the Supreme Court released the full verdict.

Both the government and the defence have got 15 days' time since the release of the full verdict to file a review appeal.