The Dhaka District and Sessions Judge's Court on January 3, 2010 will issue the death warrants against five detained convicts of Bangabandhu assassination case, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed saidyesterday.

The date was fixed at a meeting of the law minister with the attorney general and some state counsels of this case at the minister's secretariat office in the afternoon.

"The jail authorities will take steps to execute the convicts between 21st and 28th day of receiving the death warrants," the minister told the reporters afterthe meeting.

He said the decision has already been conveyed to the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge's Court.

The documents and a copy of Supreme Court judgment on the case also have been sent to that court, he added.

Earlier, legal complexities arose on which of the District and Sessions Judge's Court and Metropolitan Judge's Court, Dhaka, should issue the death warrants.

Shafique said the five con-

victs could file review petitions with the Supreme Court against their convictions by January 19.

Replying to a question on whether the decision is interference in the judiciary, the law minister said it is an executive decision, not judicial. So it is not interference in the function of judiciary. The judicial process regarding the case had been completed, he added.

The five convicts are Lt Col Syed Farooq Rahman, Lt Col Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj Bazlul Huda, Maj (Lancer) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Lt Col (Artillery) Mohiuddin Ahmed.

On November 19, the Appellate Division upheld the death sentence to a dozen killers including the five convicts earlier handed down by the High Court.

Six of the convicts -- Lt Col Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col SHMB Nur Chowdhury, Lt Col AM Rashed Chowdhury, Capt Abdul Mazed and Risaldar Mosleuddin Khan — are on the run.

The other convict Lt Col Abdul Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe in June2001.

State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam, chief state counsel Anisul Huq, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, special state counsels Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Ajmalul Hossain, SM Rezaul Karim and SM Abdul Mobin, among others, were present at the meeting.