The Attorney General’s (AG) Office has taken preparations for hearing of the long-pending Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case as the government is going to appoint four judges to the Appellate Division.
Earlier on Sunday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star his office is prepared for hearing of the appeals filed by five condemned prisoners against the verdict in the case.
“We’ll place arguments on behalf of the state when the hearing of the case starts at the Appellate Division,” he said. The hearing will start when the chief justice constitutes a bench of the apex court, he added.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed on Sunday told The Daily Star the government has requested Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin to send names of eight High Court judges to the president for four of them to get appointed to the Appellate Division.
“The posts for four new Appellate Division judges have already been created and I hope the appointments will be made in this week,” he said.
He added the appointments will accelerate the activities of the apex court and also pave the way for hearing of the Bangabandhu murder case.
Asked about the preparation of the state counsels, Anisul Huq, one of the state lawyers, denied making comments on the issue.
The appeals against the capital punishment have remained pending in the Supreme Court for about 20 months due to shortage of judges.
Lt Col (sacked) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Lt Col (retd) Muhiuddin Ahmed, Maj (retd) AKM Mahiuddin Ahmed (Lancer) and Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda filed the appeals in the last week of October 2007 as per the court order.
Neither the defence nor the state has made any move for hearing of the appeals since then.
Sources say Syed Farooq-ur Rahman has filed an appeal with the SC seeking bail in this case. They add Muhiuddin Ahmed is also taking preparations to file a bail petition with the apex court.
The Appellate Division special bench of Justice Tafazzal Islam, Justice Md Joynul Abedin and Justice Md Hassan Ameen on September 23, 2007 granted the leaves to appeal filed by the five convicts.
District and Sessions Judge Kazi Golam Rosul awarded death sentence to 15 accused on November 8, 1999 and acquitted four others including Taheruddin Thakur.
Another accused Khondker Moshtaque was by then dead.
The death reference of the Bangabandhu murder case was then sent to the HC for disposal.
On April 30, 2001, the third HC bench of Justice Md Fazlul Karim confirmed capital punishment against 12 and acquitted three others.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh News, Bangladesh Politics, Daily Bangladesh News, News, Politics
