No parole for Nizami, Sayedee

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee are unlikely to have parole today (Saturday) to lead the Namaj-e-janaza of former Jamaat Ameer Ghulam Azam. The namaj-e-janaza (funeral prayers) of Azam, who died at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital in the city on Thursday night, is scheduled to be held at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after Zohr prayers today. Jail, hospital and family sources said Azam expressed his last wish either Motiur rahman Nizami or Delwar Hossain Sayedee would lead his janaza. On Friday, Azam’s layer Tajul Islam had told the reporters that they would apply for parole for both Nizami and Sayedee. When contacted, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said ‘I don’t know whether a person convicted of war crimes is eligible to be freed on parole to lead janaza. On Saturday morning, Azam’s son Abdullahil Amaan Azmi said that he would conduct his father’s funeral prayers at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after the Zohr prayers. Ghulam Azam will be buried at his family graveyard in Moghbazar in Dhaka. The 92-year old died at 10:15pm on Thursday at the ICU of BSMMU Hospital. He was serving a 90-year prison sentence handed down last year by the International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity committed during Bangladesh’s independence struggles in 1971, according to a news agency.