Wife meets Molla for last time

Death row convict Abdul Quader Molla’s wife has met him at the Dhaka Central Jail for the last time before his execution.

Sanoara Jahan along with the Jamaat-e-Islami leader’s other family members entered the prison around 7:45pm on Tuesday, half an hour after State Minister for Home Shamsul Hoque Tuku said the death sentence would be executed by ‘tonight’.

Dhaka Central Jail’s Senior Superintendent Farman Ali told reporters around 8pm that the death sentence would be carried out at 12:01am on Wednesday.

He said 23 members of Molla’s family, including his wife, son Hasan Jamil, four daughters, their husbands and Molla’s brother-in-law, entered the jail to meet him.

The came out around 8:45pm. Molla’s daughters were seen crying at the time.

Son Jamil at the time told reporters, “This is a political killing.”

“The jail code has not been properly followed. He did not receive a copy of the full verdict. This is injustice.”

Asked whether Molla said anything, Jamil said, “He has asked us to be calm, and to pray for him.”

The International Crimes Tribunal on Sunday had issued the death warrant for the Jamaat Assistant Secretary General, soon after receiving a copy of the full version of the Supreme Court verdict sentencing Molla to death

The following day, Molla’s wife Sanoara at a press briefing said her husband’s death sentence was politically motivated.

The family went to meet him for one last time in a microbus and a SUV after the prison authorities on Tuesday evening wrote to them to do so by 8pm.

After receiving the letter, Jamil had told bdnews24.com, “We have informed the close relatives about the letter. We are going to meet him.”

A large number of police have been deployed in front of the jail. Plainclothesmen along with over 300 RAB personnel stood guard in the area.

DMP’s Additional Commissioner (Lalbagh) Abida Sultana said adequate security had been ensured.

Earlier in the day, the Jamaat leader's lawyers had also met him.

Chief defence counsel Abdur Razzaq had said Molla only directed them to file a review plea of the Supreme Court's full verdict.

Bangladesh's second war crimes tribunal had on Feb 5 sentenced Molla to life imprisonment for killings, rapes and looting during the War of Independence in 1971.

Amid protests, the prosecution moved the Supreme Court against
the verdict. The highest court, on Oct 17, revised the life term to a death
sentence.