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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Quamruzzaman's execution 'matter of time', says Bangladesh AG

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Dhaka: The execution of Bangladesh's 1971 war crimes convict and fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Quamrazzaman is now "only a matter of time," the country's top law officer today said.

"The execution is only a matter of time," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told newsmen after 10 members of Quamaruzzaman's family visited him at the prison at downtown Dhaka, where he is expected to be hanged.

The Supreme Court two days ago upheld a previous special tribunal verdict handing him down the death penalty.

Alam added that the prison authorities now just needed the death penalty order or the death warrant to execute the sentence of the 62-year-old Quamaruzzman.

He said that Quamaruzzman could seek the presidential clemency after "admitting all his crimes and for that he does not need the full verdict".

The apex court on Monday issued the abridged version of their judgement while the full text was expected to be out in a few weeks.

The attorney general's comments came as defence lawyers said they awaited full judgement of the Supreme Court against Quamaruzzaman as they planned to file a review petition.

"We will file a review petition within 30 days after receiving the full text of the Supreme Court verdict," Quamarazzaman's counsel Shishir Manir told newsmen.

But the attorney general consistently said the special law for the war crimes trial in Bangladesh kept no scope for review of the apex court's judgments.

Until now only one war crimes convict, Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah was executed last year since Bangladesh launched the belated war crimes trial in 2010 while ahead of his execution the apex court had entertained a review petition filed hours ahead of his scheduled execution.

But the petition was rejected the next day, delaying the execution by only 24 hours.

The Supreme Court had on Monday upheld Quamaruzzaman's death penalty 18 months after the special tribunal handed him down the capital punishment.

Quamruzzaman was leader of now defunct Islamic Chhatra Sangha, the then student front of Jamaat and was part of the Al-Badr force which acted as the Gestapo-like killing unit as auxiliary force of the Pakistani troops in 1971.

Jamaat was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence from Pakistan.

The judgment came a day after the war crimes tribunal handed down death penalty to another Jamaat stalwart and media doyen Mir Quasem Ali for war crimes, and four days after party chief Matiur Rahman Nizami was sentenced to death on identical charges.

Source: Z news, Nov. 5, 2014
Location: Bangladesh
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