Nizami meets son in jail

ar crimes convict Motiur Rahman Nizami has met with his son and lawyers at Kashimpur jail in Gazipur. His son Nazib Momen, lawyers Motiur Rahman Akanda and Afaz Uddin met the Jamaat-e-Islami chief at Saturday noon, Jail Superintendent Mizanur Rahman said. He told reporters they discussed challenging the death sentence verdict on Nizami at the Appellate Division. Rahman said that they met at the office of the Deputy Jailor Shah Mohammad. “They mainly spoke about the appeal against the death penalty.” The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 29 sentenced Nizami, who led Pakistan Army’s vigilante Al-Badr militia to abort Bangladesh’s birth in 1971, to hang until death for his war crimes. The Jamaat chief is allowed to appeal against the verdict within 30 days. Every Jamaat leader who has been convicted of war crimes until now had appealed against the verdicts handed down by the war crimes tribunals. Of them, Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla’s life imprisonment sentence was raised to death penalty. He was hanged in December last year. Senior Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s death sentence was reduced to life in jail. Jamaat had enforced several days of countrywide shutdown after Nizami was sentenced to death last month and Assistant Secretary General Md Kamaruzzaman’s death sentence was upheld on Nov 3. The party has also announced a nationwide protest for Sunday demanding release of its top leaders convicted or under trial on war crimes charges, according to a news agency.