Self-confessed Bangabandhu killer Rashed Chowdhury has political asylum in the US; another killer Moslem Uddin, who was believed to be in India, is also located in the US, diplomatic sources have confirmed.
This is the first time Washington has made the status of Rashed Chowdhury clear.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Shahriar Alam in a meeting with US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat yesterday discussed the issue of repatriating the killers.
After the meeting, the state minister said: “She [the US ambassador] told me that Rashed Chowdhury is in the USA under political asylum...Now that we know that he has political asylum, it would make deciding our next course of action easier,” he said.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with all of his family members except two daughters on August 15, 1975.
12 killers were awarded death penalty, five of them were hanged, one had a natural death and six are absconding. The absconders are Rashed Chowdhury, Noor Chowdhury, Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Abdul Mazed and Moslem Uddin.
The junior minister said the government had taken steps to bring them back but declined to elaborate. He said there was scope to appeal to have Rashed Chowdhury’s political asylum revoked.
Asked why they had not appealed before, Shahriar said the government was not clearly aware of the development. He, however, added that they had appealed before Rashed got asylum, but the appeal was not successful.
Rashed Chowdhury is now living in California, diplomatic sources confirmed.
A diplomat, asking not to be named, said Moslem Uddin is now in the US but without political asylum.
“The state minister and the ambassador discussed the repatriation of Rashed Chowdhury and Moslem Uddin,” he said.
In April, the Dhaka Tribune obtained a copy of a Law Ministry letter that said the government was appointing top New York-based law firm Skadden to fight the legal battle to bring back the fugitive killers of Bangabandhu.
At that time, Law Minister Anisul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune that the government had signed a one-year contract with Skadden, who had started working to bring them back.
Junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam yesterday said the government was yet to know the status of Noor Chowdhury, said to be living in Canada.
“He [Noor Chowdhury] applied for political asylum but the matter has been pending for the last five or six years,” he said.
Canadian law bars the repatriation of any foreign national who has been awarded the death penalty at home, he said.
The Bangladesh government cannot change Canadian laws, he said, adding: “It is complicated. We do not have an extradition treaty with Canada ... We hope to bring back at least one killer.”
He said the government did not have specific information about the status of Shariful Haque Dalim. “If we get a lead, we will ask the country he is in to locate him.”
Asked about the whereabouts of Abdur Rashid, he said there was no specific information about him either. There are rumours that he is engaged in business in Libya and Kenya.
Shahariar said the Bangladesh mission in Kenya inquired but the government of the African country did not provide any specific information.
About the location of Abdul Mazed and Moslem Uddin, he said the Indian government has confirmed that they were not in India.