Dhaka, Dec 12 (IANS)

The Bangladesh Supreme Court Thursday cleared the way for the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader and war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah, rejecting the review petition he had filed.

The order means that the Jammat's assistant secretary general can now be executed anytime, the Daily Star reported.

Mollah, who is on a death row, has been kept in the Dhaka Central Jail.

Executions are usually carried out after midnight when the prisoners are kept inside their cells, the report quoted a prison official as saying.

The official added that anytime after sunset is suitable for the execution.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md. Muzammel Hossain dismissed Mollah's petition.

The petition was submitted just a few hours ahead of Mollah's scheduled execution Tuesday night.

Mollah was to be executed a minute before midnight Tuesday but a last-minute attempt by his lawyers saw the Supreme Court Chamber Judge stay the execution until 10.30 a.m. Wednesday, which was halted until further notice till Thursday.

The ruling Thursday sparked protests by pro-Jamaat lawyers outside the Supreme Court premises, the report said.

On Feb 5, Mollah was sentenced to life in prison by the International Crimes Tribunal-2, a special tribunal set up to try those allegedly involved in war crimes during the south Asian country's nine-month war of liberation in 1971.

The state on March 3 appealed to the apex court against Mollah's sentencing, claiming that the punishment was inadequate, and sought the death penalty.

On Sep 17, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division revised the verdict, sentencing Mollah to death.