Hearing on Nizami plea not resumed

The Supreme Court today could not resume the hearing on the appeal filed by condemned war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami, challenging a verdict that sentenced him to death for his war crimes during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was scheduled to hear Nizami’s appeal but they could not hold the hearing as one of the judges was not present at the courtroom, SC sources said.

Contacted, SC Registrar General Syed Aminul Islam however told The Daily Star that he did not know anything about the absence of the judge.

On September 9, the four-member bench started hearing on the appeal and adjourned the proceedings till November 3 (today).

On November 23 last year, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami challenged the death penalty awarded to him by a war crimes tribunal for his crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War in 1971.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 29 last year handed him the death penalty on four charges of war crimes, including murdering intellectuals. The 71-year-old was also awarded life imprisonment on four other charges.