The five condemned killers received news of their fate in jail on Thursday following the Supreme Court's rejection of their appeals. The appeals court upheld the death sentences to 12 former army officers in the Bangabandhu murder case. The landmark judgment sealed the gruelling and often-disrupted case proceedings of 13 years, delivering justice more than three decades after the killing of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Aug 15, 1975. Five of the convicted killers - retired major general Bazlul Huda, dismissed lieutenant colonel Syed Faruk Rahman, retired lieutenant colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, retired colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed and retired major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed - await their fate in jail now, while seven remain fugitive. Deputy inspector general of prisons Golam Haidar told bdnews24.com, "The accused were not sent to the court on Thursday for special reasons." He said the jailed convicts had received the copy of the judgment before evening. Going by the rules, the jail officials told them that their appeals against the death sentence have been dismissed. They were also told that they had seven days to apply to seek clemency from the president, he added. Ruhul Amin, additional deputy police commissioner, told bdnews24.com that no convict was taken to the court premises from jails or police stations during the appeals proceedings for security reasons. The hearings took place in four courtrooms at different times in the absence of the accused, he added. Amin said nearly 400 policemen were deployed at the Supreme Court premises alongside RAB and SWAT teams. Defence to seek review Defence lawyers say they have already informed the government and jail authorities that they will petition for a review of the appeals verdict by the Supreme Court. A review petition seeks to have the appeals verdict stayed on any "error apparent on the face of the record". Such petitions are rarely successful. If the review petition is rejected, the last resort for a condemned man is to seek a presidential clemency. The constitution allows them seven days to do so from the verdict or the resolution of the review petition. Defence counsel Abdullah Al Mamun said post-verdict, "This is the verdict of the apex court. There is no scope to appeal furtehr against it." "But the convicts can petition for a 'review of the record' according to article 105 of the constitution." The petition will have to be submitted within 30 days receiving the copy of the judgment, in line with the Appellate Division rules, he said. "We will submit it to the Appellate Division as soon as we receive a certified copy of the verdict," said Mamun. Mamun, lawyer for Huda and Mohiuddin Ahmed, told bdnews24.com that the counsels had already sent letters to notify the home secretary, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, attorney general and Dhaka Central Jail chief. He said there was no need to petition separately for a halt to the execution of the judgment. The verdict will not be executed until the petition is resolved, he said. 'Execution by January' State minister for law Qamrul Islam said on Thursday the Supreme Court verdict that rejected the appeals of five death convicts in president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's murder trial will be executed in January. "It will take a month and a half to implement the verdict on completion of all legal procedures. The verdict can be executed either at the end of December or at the beginning of January," Islam told reporters at the Secretariat. If their review petition is rejected they can seek presidential clemency. If that is also denied, the execution will take place between 21 and 28 days of the final resolution of the case, he said.
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