One has to pay for crimes eventually, says attorney general

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has said the executions of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid have established the fact that crimes do not go unpunished.

“We’re relieved like the rest of the nation,” he told reporters on Sunday in his reaction to the executions.

Chittagong’s wartime terror Salauddin Quader and former Al-Badr militia commander Mujahid, who in 1971 executed intellectuals, were hanged after midnight on Sunday.

They had both tried to thwart Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom but after the assassinations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, the four leaders emerged in 1975 as powerful players in politics.

Salauddin Quader served as a minister under military dictator HM Ershad. The politician jumped parties a couple of times before settling into the BNP.

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The six-time MP was made an advisor to prime minister Khaleda Zia with the ‘rank and status of a minister’.

Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mujahid was the social welfare minister in her cabinet.

The suspected war criminals were put on trial after the Awami League returned to power in 2009. So far, four war criminals have been executed.

Attorney General Alam said, “I don’t think the trials would have taken place if someone else were in power.”