Bangladesh today began countdown for the execution of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami as he was shifted to Dhaka Central Jail from a suburban prison even as the Supreme Court released its full judgement reconfirming his death penalty for 1971 war crimes.

"Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and the three-other judges of the bench have signed the judgment dismissing his (Nizami's) review plea... We have released the full text of the judgment" required for its execution, a Supreme Court spokesman told reporters here. He said the copies of the final judgment were being sent to Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD), which originally handed down the death penalty. The trial court would send the documents to Dhaka's district magistrate and the prison department for "subsequent actions".