Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) today set October 28 for a hearing on a state plea contesting a High Court judgment that prevents the solitary confinement of death-row convicts until their sentences are finalized. A three-member bench of the apex court, led by Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, issued this order following a petition filed by Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, representing the petitioners in this matter.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the High Court delivered a judgment on May 13, 2024, that prohibits the isolation of individuals convicted and sentenced to death in condemned cells until all appeals have been exhausted. This legal action was initiated in 2021 by a writ petition on behalf of three death-row convicts who were detained in condemned cells in the jails of Chattogram, Sylhet, and Cumilla. Subsequently, the High Court instructed the relevant authorities to present a written report on the conditions provided to 1,987 death-row convicts across various jails in the country and issued a rule on April 5, 2022. The High Court later made this rule absolute in its final judgment.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, referring to the High Court verdict, emphasized that individuals cannot be labeled as death-row prisoners and placed in condemned cells until their sentences are finalized. He stated, “A death-row convict can only be kept in solitary confinement when all their appeals, including mercy petitions, are disposed of and all official formalities are completed.”
In response, the state filed a petition seeking to halt the High Court’s judgment. The Chamber Judge Court of the Appellate Division stayed the verdict, and now the issue is set to be heard by the regular bench of the apex court.