DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh's Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has turned down a petition by an Islamic party official and upheld his death sentence for war crimes.
The decision was made Monday by a four-member panel headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha against Mohammad Qamaruzzaman, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami party.
It was the last legal roadblock to his execution. If he seeks presidential clemency and is rejected, he will be executed soon after.
In November last year, the Supreme Court upheld a verdict of death sentence by a special tribunal for his crimes against humanity during the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan. Later he appealed for a review.
Bangladesh blames Pakistani soldiers and local collaborators for the deaths of 3 million people during the nine-month 1971 war.