Khokon Razakar in Sweden?

Zahid Hossain Khokon, Faridpur’s Razakar chief condemned to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, is currently in Sweden, an expatriate Bangladeshi has said.

Death for Khokon Razakar

He said Khokon, known as Khokon Razakar, was living in Stockholm with his elder son and daughter.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Thursday awarded him the capital punishment for war crimes during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971.

Though the tribunal has no specific information on Khokon’s whereabouts, a prosecutor said he could be in Sweden.

Khokon, a BNP leader in Nagarkanda and former mayor of Nagarkanda municipality, went into hiding after the probe into his alleged crimes against humanity began in 2012.

The tribunal found Khokon guilty of 10 of the 11 charges, including those of murder, genocide, rape and arson, levelled against him.

After the law enforcers failed to arrest him, notice was published in newspapers at the court’s behest, asking him to appear before the court.

The tribunal completed the trial in absentia as the order had gone unheeded.

A Bangladeshi, Aminul Ehsan, living in Sweden since 1993, told bdnews24.com: “Zahid Hossain Khokon is staying in Sweden with his daughter. I went to the house of his son-in-law Badiuzzaman Bodi on several occasions as he is personally known to me. I saw Mr Khokon there.”

He said Khokon’s elder son Khairuzzaman Lincoln, general secretary of the Sweden unit of the Juba Dal, also lived in Stockholm.

Nagarkanda people said though Khokon’s wife Ambia Begum, second son ‘Lenin’ and younger son ‘Polin’ lived in Bangladesh, they did not stay in their own three-storied house at the Upazila headquarters.

They said the family owned huge lands and other property.

Ehsan said: “Mr Khokon used to talk a bit with other people during his initial days in Sweden. Now, he doesn’t usually come out of home.”

Khokon is the second of the two sons and two daughters of Motaleb Mia and Joynab Begum of Nagarkanda. His elder brother Zafar Hossain was the Razakar chief in Nagarkanda during the Liberation War.

He was caught at Chandhat by the freedom fighters and killed in mass beating on May 29, 1971.

Prosecution said Khokon replaced his brother Zafar as Razakar chief of Nagarkanda.

According to the prosecution, Khokon campaigned for the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate in Faridpur in the 1970 elections.

Later, he joined the BNP and was made vice-president of the party’s Nagarkanda municipal area committee.

Khokon and Zafar welcomed Pakistani troops as they arrived in Nagarkanda on Apr 21 in 1971. Later, two Mujaheed Bahinis (forces) were formed -- one led by Zafar and other by Maulana Abul Kalam.

Members of the two Bahinis were involved in various crimes against humanity including looting and arson, attack on pro-Awami League and Hindu people’s houses, and rape.

Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad aka Bachchu Razakar, who was also condemned to death by the tribunal in absentia for war crimes, was an accomplice in their crimes.