Bangladesh prepares for execution of founding father’s killer Mazed

The government is completing formalities to hang Abdul Mazed, a key fugitive convict in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“The formalities to execute the verdict against Captain Abdul Mazed have begun. The sentence will be executed once the formalities are done with,” Law Minister Anisul Huq said in a video message on Tuesday.

He said Mazed, who was believed to have been in India, does not pose any danger of spreading the novel coronavirus in the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj as he was put into solitary confinement designated for the convicts condemned to death.

A special team of the police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime arrested Mazed in Mirpur-11 of the capital around 3am on Tuesday.

Judge AM Zulfikar Hayat of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka ordered him into jail when the police produced him in court in the afternoon.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has hailed the arrest as the "biggest gift of Mujib Year" and thanked everyone involved in the process.

"Mazed didn't just participate in the assassination of Bangabandhu but we know he also took part in the jail killing of the four national leaders,” Khan said in a video message.

"After Bangabandhu’s murder, he worked at Bangabhaban and other places following the instructions of Ziaur Rahman. We now hope to execute his sentence as per the court's directives.”

The Father of the Nation was killed along with most of his family members on Aug 15 in 1975 at his home in Dhanmondi 32. His daughters Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived as they were abroad at the time.

Abdul Mazed, a key fugitive convict in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was sent to jail following his arrest on Tuesday.

But the investigation into the deaths was stopped through an Indemnity Ordinance, which had saved the self-proclaimed killers from facing justice

The ordinance was abrogated in November, 1996 when the Awami League returned to power, paving the way to bringing the killers to justice.

After a lengthy trial, the court convicted 12 suspects and awarded them the death penalty in 2010.

Out of these self-proclaimed killers, five were hanged on Jan 28, 2010. They were-- Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahariar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, Mohiuddin Ahmed and AKM Mohiuddin.

Mazed is one of six absconding convicts along with Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, M Rashed Chowdhury, SHMB Noor Chowdhury and Risaldar Moslemuddin.

After five other killers were executed eight years ago, Interpol had issued “red corner notices” for the absconding death-row convicts in 2009. The notices have been renewed every five years.