Dhaka, Dec 12 (IANS): The Bangladesh Supreme Court Thursday rejected the review petition filed by Jamaat-e-Islami leader and war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah even as his defence counsel insisted that he cannot be hanged till the full verdict is released.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md. Muzammel Hossain passed the order, clearing the way for executing the war crimes-convicted Mollah, assistant secretary general of Jamaat.
"There is no scope to accept Mollah's review petition," Xinhua quoted the Supreme Court as saying in its brief verdict.
The prosecution says this rejection means that Mollah, who was awarded the capital punishment for war crimes including mass killings, can be executed anytime soon as the death sentence remains valid.
Chief defence counsel Abdur Razzaq said: "Let us receive the full verdict. He can't be executed until the release of the full verdict. And we have time until Dec 23 for filing mercy petition as per jail code."
However, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said: "The jail code will not be applicable in case of Mollah."
Bangladesh's Supreme Court Wednesday adjourned till Thursday morning the hearing on the acceptability of the review petition filed by Mollah.
About one-and-a-half hours before Mollah was to be hanged Tuesday, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, a Supreme Court chamber judge, stayed the execution of the Jamaat leader until 10.30 a.m. Wednesday.
That came after the defence counsel Tuesday evening submitted a petition to the chamber judge against the verdict of the apex court that sentenced Mollah to death for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
Justice Hossain was one of the five members of the Appellate Division bench that sentenced Mollah to death, overruling the judgment of International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had earlier awarded him a life term.
After the ICT-2 sentenced Mollah to life imprisonment Feb 5, hundreds of people, mostly pro-ruling party men, flocked to Shahbagh square, an iconic place in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, demanding death penalty for Mollah for crimes against humanity in 1971.
The ICT-2 Dec 8 issued the death warrant for Mollah amid a widespread debate among lawyers on whether the Jamaat leader has the right to move a review petition before the apex court.
Mollah was indicted in May last year with six specific charges for his alleged involvement in murders and mass killings in 1971.
In the wake of his execution, sources said law enforcers have already taken position in different strategically important points of the capital and many other cities and towns to thwart any untoward situation.
Ten current and former leaders of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat have been sentenced to either death or life imprisonment for crimes against humanity linked to the country's war of independence.