Kashimpur Central Jail is ready

After the government order for the execution of war criminal Mir Quasem Ali, the buzz of activity at Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur indicates the chief financier for the Jamaat-e-Islami leader is hanging any time.

After his family and relatives saw him for one last time on Saturday, Inspector General of Prisons Syed Iftekhar Uddin entered the jail in the evening in a clear indication of the imminent execution.

There has been no official word that Mir Quasem’s death penalty will be carried out on Saturday. But the families were allowed to meet the death-row convicts hours before the execution of war criminals.

Kashimpur prison Unit-2 Jailer Nashir Ahmed said the executive order reached them in the afternoon.

He would not say when the commander of the wartime Al-Badr militia would hang.

Security around the jail has been heightened. A large number of police and RAB personnel have formed a human wall surrounding the facility.

A Fire Service car entered the jail around 4pm. A police water cannon was taken inside the prison on Friday night.

Police have closed all the shops adjacent to the check-post next to the jail.

Crowds of onlookers started gathering at the jail gates since the morning in anticipation. A large posse of the press also descended there to cover the execution of the death sentence.

Additional IG Prisons Col Iqbal Hasan entered the jail around 1:30pm and the DIG prisons at 4pm.

Border Guard Bangladesh public relations officer Mohsin Reza said four platoons were mobilised in Gazipur to strengthen security while six platoons were deployed in Dhaka like regular days.

"Wait and see," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told bdnews24.com when asked about the time of the hanging. Hangings

# Abdul Quader Molla - 10:01pm

# Mohammad Kamaruzzaman - 10:01

# Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury - 12:55am

# Motiur Rahman Nizami - 12:10am

Mir Quasem, founding president of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, is a member of Jamaat`s policymaking Central Executive Council.

He is the sixth war criminal to see the verdict at its execution level and the fifth top Jamaat leader whose death sentence for war crimes has been upheld in the final verdict.

Jamaat’s assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla was the first to be hanged for 1971 war crimes on Dec 12, 2013.

Another assistant secretary general of the party, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, was executed on Apr 11, 2015.

The jail authorities executed the death sentences of Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and BNP Standing Committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury on Nov 21 last year.

Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami was the last to hang on May 11 this year.

All of them were hanged in Dhaka Central Jail at Old Dhaka`s Nazimuddin Road. Now it has been relocated to Keraniganj.

So Mir Quasem is going to be the first war criminal to be hanged in Kashimpur.

The International Crimes Tribunal sentenced the Jamaat policymaker to death in 2014 for war crimes.

He moved the Supreme Court for a review of the appeals verdict that had upheld the sentence in March this year.

The Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed the review petition last Tuesday, clearing all legal obstacles for the hanging.