Salauddin Quader, Mujahid were ‘unruffled’ at the gallows: Official

War criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were ‘unflustered’ during their execution, a police official has said.

BNP leader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mujahid were hanged simultaneously on a single platform at Dhaka Central Jail in the first hours on Sunday.
 
Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Nazmul Alam said the duo were silent when they were being taken to the gallows.
 
“They did not react. The ropes were pulled simultaneously,” he said.
 
A jail official told bdnews24.com that Mujahid’s family members tried to delay the execution by starting to cry.
 
The families of the convicts entered the prison at around 10pm on Saturday and left after some two hours.

Jail Superintendent Jahangir Kabir told reporters outside the jail that the politicians were executed at 12:55am.
 
Chowdhury, a minister of military dictator HM Ershad’s cabinet, was hanged for the genocide of Hindus and the murder of Awami League supporters.
 
The charge against Al-Badr commander Mujahid, a minister in BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s cabinet, was that he killed Bengali intellectuals.
 
The senior leaders met for the last time on July 17, 2013 at the International Crimes Tribunal during the verdict of Mujahid.
 
They had a long conversation that day. Mujahid seemed cheerful that morning. 
 
But he looked dispirited when he heard of his death penalty. He left the tribunal after shaking hands with Chowdhury.
 
Both of them begged President Md Abdul Hamid for mercy on Saturday, shortly before they were executed early on Sunday.