Repatriation process for six Bangabandhu killers hiding abroad stalls

The government has long been maintaining it is working to bring back the six killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hiding abroad, but no significant headway is visible.

After five other killers were executed six years ago, Bangladesh Police had Interpol issue 'red corner notices' for the absconding death-row convicts.

So far, they have been able to become 'almost certain' about the whereabouts of five of them, Interpol's Bangladesh chapter National Central Bureau (NCB) chief Rafiqul Islam Gani says.

"We don't know for sure where Risaldar Moslehuddin (Khan) is right now," he said.

The other five are Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, M Rashed Chowdhury, AHMB Noor Chowdhury and Abdul Mazed. All of them are former army officers.

However, Assistant Inspector General of Police Gani could not say how much progress has been made in their repatriation process when asked on Sunday, a day before the nation observes the 41st anniversary of the Bangabandhu’s assassination.

He told bdnews24.com: "At the moment, there is no new progress."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the Father of the Nation, had said in September last year in Parliament that Rashid had gone to Pakistan from Libya. Dalim was also in Pakistan.

The four others are either in the US or Canada.

The Canadian government has already made it clear that they would not deport Noor, who lives in Toronto, to Bangladesh where he will face the death penalty.

The US is also unwilling to send back Rashid, who is in Los Angeles.

Police have information that Mazed is in Senegal. Officials said further inquiries are being made regarding his whereabouts.

The five convicts hanged on Jan 27, 2010, were Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahariar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, Mohiuddin Ahmed and AKM Mohiuddin.

Another, Abdul Aziz Pasha, who was hiding in Zimbabwe, died there in 2001, police said.

After their executions, government ministers on several occasions had said the death-row convicts who are hiding abroad will be brought back and hanged. But no effective measures have been taken yet to deliver on their pledge.

NCB chief Gani maintained a similar tone on Sunday. “Efforts are on to bring back the fugitives. Talks are ongoing at Interpol and diplomatic level.”

When asked, he could not say when the attempts will bear fruit. “We can’t say anything for certain now.”

After Canada and the US refused to send Noor and Rashed back, Prime Minister Hasina had said in Parliament, “I don’t know why they give shelter to killers despite being civilised nations.”

Four years after Bangladesh became independent, independence architect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family members on Aug 15, 1975, by a group of rogue army officers at his Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka.

His daughters Hasina and Sheikh Rehana escaped the massacre as they were in Europe at that time.

After the gruesome murders, 12 army officers involved had been awarded with jobs in diplomatic missions abroad in 1977 when Gen Ziaur Rahman, who founded the BNP, captured power through a military coup.

Bangladesh’s first military ruler later promulgated the Indemnity Ordinance to save the self-proclaimed killers of the Bangabandhu.

The ordinance was abrogated on Nov 12, 1996, when the Awami League returned to power 21 years later, paving the path to bring the killers to justice.

But the case proceedings came to a near halt after the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government came to power.

After coming back to power, the Awami League restarted the trials. Following the verdict in the case, five of the killers were hanged.

Though all the killers were given the death penalty, the ruling party leaders have always said the conspirators of the Bangabandhu assassination have not been brought to justice.

They have also been claiming that ‘a foreign power’ was involved in the conspiracy.​