Bangladesh newspaper to face 'legal action' for calling hanged war criminal a martyr

The government is poised to take legal measures against The Daily Sangram after the newspaper published a report describing Jamaat-e-Islami leader and convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Molla as ‘a martyr’, according to two senior ministers.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq and Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader addressed the matter after paying tribute to martyred intellectuals at the Rayer Bazar Monument on Saturday.

Molla, infamously known as 'the butcher of Mirpur', was hanged on Dec 12, 2013 after conviction by the International Crimes Tribunal.

The newspaper, widely recognised as a mouthpiece for Jamaat, commemorated the day on Thursday with a report carrying the headline: “Today is the sixth death anniversary of martyr Abdul Quader Molla.”

"The insolence they displayed in 1971 is still there. Legal measures will be taken for this despicable act," said Mozammel.

"We will speak to the home ministry. We must take action against them," said Quader, the general secretary of the Awami League.

GM Quader, chairman of the official opposition Jatiya Party, also echoed the ministers' call for action against the newspaper.

"We condemn the incident. Martyrdom has a fixed definition. Not everyone can be called a martyr," he told the media after paying homage to martyred intellectuals at Martyred Intellectuals Memorial in Mirpur. 

The report sparked heated protests as a group of activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of the ruling Awami League, burnt copies of the newspaper.

Protestors subsequently besieged and vandalised The Daily Sangram’s office in Dhaka on Friday before handing the editor, Abul Asad, to police.

“We can’t make compromises on independence and sovereignty. We will resist whoever speaks against independence or the Liberation War,” Md Al Mamun, a leader of the pro-liberation platform “Muktijuddho Mancha”, told bdnews24.com.

He said the Sangram office was used as a temporary facility by the Jamaat and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir, citing documents found there.

Mamun demanded cancellation of the newspaper’s declaration and threatened to stage more protests if the demand is not met within a day.

Abul was being quizzed at Hatirjheel Police Station, said Biplob Bijoy Talukder, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.