UPDATES WITH EXECUTION TIME
By Mainul Islam Khan
DHAKA (AA) – Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami group, who was convicted earlier of committing wartime atrocities, has been hanged.
Jahangir Kabir, a prison official, confirmed to Anadolu Agency reporter that Nizami was hanged at the Dhaka Central Jail at 12:10 a.m. local time Wednesday (18:10 GMT – Tuesday).
Two ambulances went inside the prison to carry Nizami’s body to his village for burial, according to Anadolu Agency reporter.
Security has been stepped up outside the Dhaka prison facility and all nearby streets have been barricaded and closed to traffic.
Nizami, 73, was convicted earlier of committing atrocities during Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971.
Preparations to execute the Jamaat-e-Islami leader began last Thursday when the country’s Supreme Court rejected his request for a review of the death sentence issued against him.
On Monday, the court’s final verdict was issued and referred to the prison authorities.
The prison authorities then read the verdict out to Nizami, who was asked if he sought the mercy of President Abdul Hamid, to which Nizami reportedly replied in the negative.
