Review petition for Jamaat-e-Islami’s chief dismissed

By Mainul Islam Khan

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s supreme court on Thursday dismissed a review petition for Jamaat-e-Islami’s chief Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Nizami was sentenced to death in 2014 after being charged with murder, rape, looting and collaborating with the Pakistani army during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s Acting Chief Maqbul Ahmed and Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman issued a joint statement condemning the decision.

“The government had filed [a] false case against Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami in line with the so-called allegation of crimes against humanity in a bid to make Jamaat-e-Islami a leaderless party,” the statement said. “The allegations which have been raised against him are completely baseless, false, concocted and fictitious.”

The group has declared a three-day protest program, which includes a nationwide strike on May 8.

The last option for Nizami at this point is a presidential clemency, which is unlikely.

Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party established a war crimes court in 2009 to investigate alleged crimes committed during the war.

Opposition parties and international organizations have criticized the process, with Human Rights Watch expressing concerns over whether the accused received fair trials.