The Supreme Court has appointed four amicus curiae to review the terms of life imprisonment.
A six-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, appointed the amicus curiae, on Thursday.
Senior Supreme Court lawyers, Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud, Advocate AF Hassan Arif, Abdur Rezzak Khan, and Mansurul Haque Chowdhury, have been appointed as the amicus curiae.
After hearing the review petition, the court set May 9 as the next hearing date.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state, while Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain stood for the review.
The defence mentioned, in 2017, that a four-member bench headed by the then-Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha gave the judgement that life imprisonment should continue until a convict's natural death.
However, a bench headed by Justice Iman Ali had previously judged that life imprisonment be rigorous imprisonment — for a total of 22.5 years.
"The two judgements are contradictory," the defence said. "It is necessary to resolve this conflict."
The attorney general agreed, saying a matter that concerns thousands of lives, should be resolved soon.
The matter of the terms of life imprisonment came to the court's attention, after murder case accused Ataur Rahman Mridha — sentenced to life — petitioned for a review.