No legal bar now to execute war criminals Mujahid, Salauddin Quader, says attorney general

No legal bar now remains to hanging war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury since the highest appeals court has confirmed their death sentences, says Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Nov 2015, 10:07 AM
Updated : 18 Nov 2015, 12:39 PM

“The legal process has ended with the dismissal of the review petitions. There are no more obstacles to hanging them. Now we’ll wait for the government decision and see whether they seek (presidential) clemency,” he said on Wednesday.

He spoke to the media after the top Appellate Division judges headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdicts on hearing Salauddin Quader’s review petition.

It heard Mujahid’s petition on Tuesday and Chowdhury’s on Wednesday.

Asked whether a short order would be needed to go ahead with the execution, Alam said, “I asked the court for a short order. But they said it was not needed as the petitions were scrapped.

“There is no stay order. That’s why a short order is not necessary.”

Asked when the war criminals would be executed, he said there was no fixed timeframe for that.

The convicted former ministers will be asked whether they wanted to seek pardon from the president and this process has no time limit, Alam added.

The attorney general said the State was happy with the Supreme Court’s verdicts that upheld both sentences first awarded by the war crimes tribunal in 2013.

“We are satisfied because Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid has been punished for the murder of intellectuals.”

“No other country in the world has seen such killings of so many intellectuals the way Bangladesh did on Dec 14, 15, and 16 in 1971. The massacre was aimed at wiping out the nation's intelligentsia.”

The International Crimes Tribunal had sentenced Jamaat Secretary General Mujahid to death on July 17, 2013 for the murders of intellectuals and his involvement in the killing and torture of Hindus in 1971.

“We would’ve been in despair had we not got justice for the murders of the intellectuals,” the attorney general added.

Salauddin Quader, infamous as Chittagong’s wartime terror, was sentenced to death by the tribunal on Oct 1, 2013 for his role in the mass killing and torture of Hindus and Awami League supporters.

Referring to the former MP of the BNP, the attorney general said his crimes were ‘of even more unimaginable lengths’.

“No other (war crimes) accused has been sentenced to death on four charges. It would have been our greatest defeat if he had got away with such genocide.”

Now, the government will go ahead with the executions if the convicts refuse to ask for mercy or if the president rejects their prayer.

The Jamaat has called a 24-hour strike for Thursday to protest against the confirmation of the death penalty for Mujahid.

At the review hearings, BNP chairperson’s advisor Khandker Mahbub Hossain represented both of the war criminals, while Mahbubey Alam argued for the State.

Security was beefed up around the Supreme Court since morning, ahead of the delivery of the verdicts.