Among the pending appeals of five convicted war criminals, the Supreme Court is now set to hear the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman challenging the death sentence handed down to him.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on May 9 last year sentenced Kamaruzzaman, one of the key organisers of the infamous Al-Badr force, to death after finding him guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the country's Liberation War in 1971.

The Appellate Division (AD) of the SC may schedule any day for starting hearing his appeal, as it has already finished the proceedings of a similar case against another Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

On April 16 this year, the apex court concluded hearing the appeals regarding the sentencing of Sayedee by the ICT-1, and kept the appeals waiting for verdict any day.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on April 25 told The Daily Star that he would pray to the SC for starting hearing of the appeal filed by Kamaruzzaman if it is not in its hearing list soon.

Kamaruzzaman's appeal is the first in the serial, and its hearing should be started as soon as possible, since some other similar appeals were pending with the SC.

The attorney general said several months were needed for finishing the proceedings of such a case.

MK Rahman, additional attorney general and chief coordinator of the prosecution, said the SC would hear the appeals of the remaining four convicts one after another.

The appeals filed by former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam, its Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, and BNP leaders Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim will be heard and disposed of one by one after the hearing of Kamaruzzaman's appeal, he said.

Two ICTs have convicted and sentenced them after finding them guilty of atrocities and crimes against humanity in 1971.

Mojaheed and Salauddin were sentenced to death, while Ghulam Azam got 90-year imprisonment and ex-BNP leader Abdul Alim a life-term in jail.

Tajul Islam, one of the defence lawyers for the convicted Jamaat leaders, told The Daily Star on April 25 that he did not know whose appeal would come up for hearing before the AD next.

Since January 2013, 10 people accused of war crimes have been convicted so far, including the six whose appeals are pending. Apart from them, six more are standing trial at the two tribunals. Most of the accused are leaders of Jamaat and BNP.

Fugitive war criminals Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan were given death penalty by a tribunal on Novembers last year. Al-Badr operation-in-charge Mueen is now in London, where he has made his name as a community leader. He served as the chairman of Tottenham Mosque and as the director of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the National Health Service of the UK.

Ashraf, chief executor of Al-Badr, is now in New York and has been involved in the conservative Islami Circle of North America, according to the prosecution.

Abul Kalam Azad, another convicted war criminal popularly known as Bachchu Razakar, is also on the run. He was the first of the accused to be convicted by ICT-2. He was sentenced to death in absentia on January 21 last year.

On September 17 last year, the SC handed down the death penalty to another Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah for his wartime atrocities in 1971. Mollah was executed on December 12 last year.