Death for Nizami ICT finds him guilty in 8 out of 16 charges; defence to appeal Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami A special tribunal in Dhaka today handed death penalty to Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami in four charges of crimes against humanity, which include the killings of intellectuals at the fag end of the 1971 Liberation War. The 71-year-old has also been awarded life sentence in four other charges as the International Crimes Tribunal found him guilty in total eight out of 16 charges levelled against him in a historic trial that began almost 40 years after Bangladeshs war of independence. The court said Nizami, though claimed to be an Islamic scholar, misinterpreted Quran to encourage his followers to conduct a massive genocide, advocate Haidar Ali, a member of the prosecution told journalists after the verdict. Meantime, the defence termed the verdict not based on evidence, and said it would appeal against the verdict with the Supreme Court. Whatever is being told against me is false, defence counsel Tajul Islam quoted the convict as saying in his reaction after the verdict. Hailing the verdict, different social-cultural organisations including Gonojagoron Mancha brought out processions in the capital, Dhaka. Five top Jamaat leaders have already been punished for their 1971 crimes and Nizami is among three other top leaders now being tried in war crimes tribunals the Awami League-led government formed in 2010 to bring the perpetrators of 1971 to book. Security has been beefed up in and around the court premises to ward off violence centring the pronouncement of the verdict. Members of law enforcing agencies including police and Rapid Action Battalion have taken position at all the entries of the tribunal and on the rooftop of the adjacent buildings. Transport movement has been halted from Doel Chattar to High Court Mazar since morning ahead of the verdict. Earlier, law enforcers took Nizami at the court premises around 9:20am. Jamaat Ameer since November 2000, Nizami is facing 16 war crimes charges, including his role in eliminating the Bangalee intelligentsia just before Bangladeshs victory on December 16 in the 1971 Liberation War. After a 22-month trial proceedings, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 led by its Chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim yesterday fixed today to pronounce the verdict. The judgment is going to be delivered nearly a year after the completion of the trial proceedings, which went through different hurdles, including tribunal reconstitution, rehearing of closing arguments and deferment of the verdict. Nizami, Jamaat Ameer since November 2000, was shifted from Kashimpur jail to Dhaka Central Jail around 8:00pm yesterday. There, jail doctors conducted a health check-up and found him sound, Farman Ali, senior jail super of Dhaka jail, told The Daily Star last night. Nizami, president of the then Jamaat-e-Islami student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha that turned into Pakistan armys auxiliary force Al-Badr during the Liberation War, was arrested on June 29, 2010, in a criminal case and later shown arrest in war crimes cases. The ICT-1 framed 16 charges against Nizami on May 28, 2012. According to the charges, Nizami had conspired with the Pakistani army, planned and incited crimes; was complicit in murders, rapes, looting and destruction of property; and was responsible for commissioning of internationally recognised wartime crimes in 1971. But, it took around one and a half years for the completion of the trial, thanks to the lack of preparation of the prosecution and a range of dilatory tactics of the defence. The tribunal first kept the case awaiting verdict on November 13 last year. But the proceeding faced further delay when tribunals chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir went on retirement without delivering the judgment. His successor reheard the closing arguments and kept the verdict waiting again on March 24. The tribunal could not deliver verdict on June 24 due to Nizamis sudden “illness” forcing the court to keep it waiting again. The Jamaat chief played a key role in forming the four-party alliance ahead of the 2001 election and led his party to taste state power along with their key ally the BNP. He and Jamaats second man Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, who was convicted in war crimes last year, became members of Khaleda Zias cabinet, amid protests from the countrys pro-liberation minds.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 07:22:42 +0000