Mercy petition is the only option for Salauddin Quader and Mujahid, says Attorney General

Seeking mercy from the President is the only option left for Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has said.

"Nothing else will work at this stage," Alam said, after the families of both the war crimes convicts addressed separate media conferences on Saturday.

While Chowdhury's family said they would 'complain' to the President regarding the 'inadequacy' of the trial, Mujahid's family asked the government not to execute him before the Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack case was disposed of.

"These are attempts to create confusion and both families are trying to do that," the Attorney General said.

BNP leader Salauddin’s family told the media on Saturday that they would write to the President arguing that his trial had not been fair.

In a separate press briefing, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mujahid’s wife Tamanna-e-Jahan said the Jamaat leader had been implicated in the Aug 21 grenade attack case.

“As a citizen of Bangladesh, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid has the right to continue the legal battle in this case,” she said. “He wants to clear his name.”

Mujahid, who has been sentenced to death for the murder of intellectuals and killing of Hindus in 1971, is one of the suspects in the Aug 21 grenade attacks on an Awami League rally in 2004.

The attorney general said he found the argument ‘irrelevant’.

“No one is proven guilty if the State presses charges against him. If the verdict says so then he will be convicted, otherwise not”, said Mahbubey Alam.

“If someone is accused in five cases and is executed in one of them, then the other cases against him will become invalid as a deceased person cannot be tried.”

Mujahid’s family has also asked the government to allow the death-row convict to meet with his lawyers.

“Mercy petition is a constitutional right, which does not require any lawyers. He can go for it if he wants and can seek cooperation from the prison authorities,” said Alam, adding that the legal procedure concluded with a resolution of the review plea.