Wife of slain witness in Sayedee case curses fate after verdict

The wife of slain Mostafa Howladar have expressed anger and frustration over the Supreme Court verdict reducing the death sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee to “imprisonment until death”.

Mostafa Howladar, who was the eighth witness in the war crimes case against Sayedee, was killed at his home by people believed to be the Jamaat supporters on Dec 7 last year.

Some members of his family are still under police protection.

After the verdict was announced, bdnews24.com correspondent caught up with the wife and other family members of Howladar at their home at Umedpur village in Pirajpur’s Zianagar Upazila.

Dejected wife Hasina Begum said, “I will have no regrets even if I am hanged today instead of Sayedee. What have I got losing my husband?”

“I cannot foot the bill for my children’s education, neither can I buy them new clothes during Eid. I can’t even put together a decent meal for them.

“I ran from pillar to post pleading for a job for my eighth-standard pass youngest son Hafizul. But no one gave him job,” said Hasina, sobbing at one point.

At that time howladar’s 100-year old mother Aikul Begum, and daughters Liza Begum and Sonia Aktar broke down as well.

Hasina said amid the round-the clock police presence in their house, some miscreants managed to escape after chopping the door at night a few months back.

The miscreants also threatened to teach them a lesson. They sometimes threatened the family over phone.

OC of Zianagar Police Station Kamruzzaman Talukdar told bdnews24.com that miscreants hit Mostafa Howladar with some heavy objectsin his head after intruding into his residence around 1:30am on that fateful December night.

He died from the fatal wounds two days later at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

Howladar’s younger brother Majid Howladar filed a case against unidentified miscreants over the incident with Zianagar Police Station on December 9 last year.

Eight persons were arrested over this case but all of them are out on bail. They are Moslem Boyati, 50, Obaidullah, 27, Bony Yamin Fakir, 60, Barek Munshi, 50, Safiqul Islam, 32, Rabiul Islam, 17, Rahim Howladar, 37, and Sohag Howladar, 20.

The case was later handed over to the CID, the OC said.

He also said that before the verdict on Sayedee was announced, the slain prosecution witness’s youngest son Hafizul, the plaintiff in the case Mahabul and nine other witnesses had been taken to the police lines for special protection.

CID’s Sub-Inspector Sardar Yunus Ali said the investigation in the case and process of arresting the culprits were on.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 awarded death sentence to Jamaat-e-Islami second-in-command Sayedee on Feb 28 last year.