ZCZC
BSS-13
WARRANT-DEATH-ASSASSIN-BANGABANDHU
Dhaka District Judge issues death warrant against Bangabandhu killer
DHAKA, April 8, 2020 (BSS) – Dhaka District and Sessions Judge’s Court today issued death warrant against convicted ex-military captain Abdul Majed for his involvement in the August 15, 1975 carnage that killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as he was arrested yesterday.
“District and Sessions Judge Helaluddin Choudhury issued the death warrant” opening the court with Supreme Court’s special permission amid COVID-19 holiday, public prosecutor Abdulah Abu told newsmen.
He added sacked capital Abdul Majed was brought before the court from the jail under heavy security escorts when the judge read out the charges and original verdict issued in 1998 in line with the legal procedures ahead of issuing the death warrant.
The warrant, he said, meant clearance for prison authorities to hang him following the Jail Code.
Another senior lawyer, Mosharaf Hossain Kajaol, who had appeared as a prosecution lawyer in Bangabandhu Murder Trial said the judge issued the warrant after talking to Majed to confirm his identity.
Law minister Anisul Huq, who was a key prosecution lawyer during the trial, meanwhile, told BSS that Majed now had no scope to challenge the judgment other than seeking presidential clemency.
“The original verdict was delivered in 1998 which was confirmed by the High Court under a mandatory legal procedure,” Huq said.
He said a notice was issued asking Majed to surrender while he had a “constitutional right” to appeal before the Supreme Court within subsequent 30 days after the High Court decision but he continued to be on the run to evade justice.
“Now there is no legal option for him to challenge the verdict,” Huq said.
Court officials and police said Majed was immediately brought back to the Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of Dhaka where he would await hangman’s noose, exhausting subsequent legal procedures.
A specialised police unit yesterday arrested Majed, one of the fugitive convicted assassins of Bangabandhu and most of his family members, as he returned home after hiding nearly two and half decades in India.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal earlier confirmed his arrest saying the “self confessed killer” was not only involved in Bangabandhu killing but also took part in the subsequent murders of four national leaders in high security Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975.
He said previous reports indicated Majed was hiding in India but eventually he was arrested from Dhaka as he secretly returned to Dhaka last month.
Police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Majed in a predawn raid at Mirpur area acting on a tip off while he was as roaming around a shrine there and hours later he landed in jail following a brief appearance before a magistrate court.
Majed is one of the six absconding ex-army officers who were handed down capital punishment after trial in absentia while a prosecution lawyer yesterday said Majed told the magistrate court that he returned to Bangladesh on March 15 or 16.
The convict, he said, claimed he managed to live secretly in the West Bengal capital Kolkata for the past 23 years.
Another senior lawyer earlier said the stipulated time for appealing against his death penalty expired long ago and Majed now could just seek presidential mercy unless the Supreme Court decides to consider any plea on his part.
Twelve ex-military officers were sentenced to death for the August 15, 1975 killing of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members and five of them were executed by now while one died a natural death as he was on the run abroad.
Bangabandhu’s elder daughter and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and younger daughter Sheikh Rehana survived as they were on a visit to the then West Germany at the time of the putsch, which also toppled Bangladesh’s post independence government.
The five convicts were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on January 28, 2010, after a protracted legal procedure while the delayed trial process began in 1996 when an infamous indemnity law was scrapped as it was protecting the assassins from justice until then.
The hanged convicts were sacked lieutenant colonels Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed and sacked major Bazlul Huda. Another convict, sacked colonel Aziz Pasha, died a natural death in Zimbabwe while he was on the run.
Farooq Rahman, Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed of artillery faced the trial in the judge court in person.
Huda was extradited from Thailald and another Mohiuddin known as lancer Mohiuddin was sent back from the United States years after the then district judge Golam Rasul delivered the judgment.
Majed was one of the remaining fugitives believed to be hiding abroad with no confirmed whereabouts.
The rest of the fugitives included key mastermind of the August 15, 1975 coup plot ex-lieutenant colonel Abdur Rashid while the Interpol issued red alert against the absconders believed to be hiding in several countries including Pakistan.
Bangladesh confirmed two cases where two convicts took refuge in the United States and Canada, one of them is said to have shot dead Bangladesh founder directly.
Dhaka said it was trying to extradite them to be exposed to gallows but Canada declined to entertain the request citing provisions of the country’s own law.
After the August 15, 1975 carnage, Majed was rehabilitated in civil service during the subsequent regime of former military dictator turned politician Ziaur Rahman as an ex-cadre official and posted as the director of National Savings Department.
He fled the country while serving later in the finance ministry along with most other 1975 coup plotters as the 1996 general elections brought Awami League back tom power which vowed to expose to justice Bangabandhu killers in line with its election manifesto.
BSS/CORR/DA/KC/MHR/GMR/AR/1530 hrs