Authorities of the Dhaka central jail have become busy hours after the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court rejected the petitions of Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid to review its order that upheld the death sentences for committing crimes against humanity during the country's War of Liberation of 1971.

After the verdicts, the jail authorities have been holding an emergency meeting. IG (Prison) Brigadier Gen Syed Ifthekhar Uddin and senior jail super Jahangir Kabir, among others, are in the meeting, sources said.

Meanwhile, centering the verdicts of BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh general secretary Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, the security in and around of the Dhaka central jail has been strengthened. Additional members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have been deployed. Besides, checkpoints have been temporarily set up in the adjacent roads.

After the verdict of the Appellate Division, SQ Chowdhury and Mujahid have last options to file mercy petitions to the president.

If they do not file mercy petitions, there will be no bar to execute deaths of SQ Chowdhury and Mujahid.

In a reaction, Mujahid's son Ali Ahmmad Marbur told the journalists that the decision of mercy petition would be taken after meeting his father. It depends on the will of his father, he added.

Both SQ Chowhdury and Mujahid are staying in the central jail.

RI