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 — faces imminent death by hanging.
Since early Tuesday evening, members of his family — his wife, two sons, their wives, and a few others — have been with Nizami in his prison cell.
All relevant officials, including the head of the prison, have entered the prison complex, while hangman Tanvir Hasan Raju was brought from the Kashimpur Prison to execute Nizami at the gallows.
Local media quoted Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal as saying: “Nizami did not seek mercy. The executive order to carry out the death sentence has been sent to the prison authorities.”
Security has been stepped up outside the Dhaka prison facility and all nearby streets have been barricaded and closed to traffic.
Preparations to execute Nizami 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.
