Infamous war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Al-Badr commander Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid have been hanged for committing crimes against humanity in 1971.
They swung from the gallows at 12:55am Sunday at the Dhaka Central Jail amid tight security.
IG Prison Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune that they were hanged at 12:55am on Sunday.
He was present at the site during the executions. The convicts were hanged on the same execution dock, he said.
The last resort for the two condemned war criminals to avoid execution failed as the president had turned down their mercy petitions on Saturday night.
Earlier on Saturday evening, the jail authorities asked the families to meet the convicts for the last time after the president rejected their mercy petitions.
At least 35 people including Salauddin's wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury and sons Hummam Quader and Fazlul Quader arrived at the jail gate to meet the former MP on Saturday night. Eighteen of them were allowed to enter the jail.
A total of 25 members of Mujahid's family entered the jail in three teams to meet Mujahid.
On Saturday afternoon, the convicts sought presidential clemency.
However, family members of the two convicts and Mujahid's Jamaat-e-Islami rejected the announcement as untrue. They also criticised the government for not allowing the lawyers to meet the convicts on Friday.
The Supreme Court released the full text of its dismissal order on Salauddin and Mujahid's plea for reviewing their death penalty on Thursday evening, a day after it rejected the review petitions filed by the two convicted war criminals.
The BNP leader Salauddin was awarded death penalty by the International Crimes Tribunal on October 1, 2013 for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Independence War.
The Appellate Division upheld maximum punishment for the former MP from Chittagong’s Raozan on July 29, 2015.
He was arrested on December 16, 2010, and shown arrested in war crimes case on December 19 the same year. The tribunal indicted him on April 4, 2012.
On July 17, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal 2 ordered to hang Mujahid by the neck for the massacre of intellectuals including scientists, academics and journalists, and his involvement in the murder and torture of Hindus during the war.
He was found guilty in five out of the seven charges and sentenced to death in two of them.
The Jamaat leader was arrested on June 29, 2010 on charges of hurting religious sentiment and defying court orders. He was later shown arrested in the war crimes case on August 8. The tribunal indicted him on June 21, 2012.
Mujahid appealed against the tribunal verdict on August 11, 2013 and the hearing began on April 29 this year. The hearing continued for nine working days and ended on May 27.
On June 16, 2015, the Appellate Division delivered its judgement, upholding death for the Jamaat secretary general.
On October 14, Mujahid sought review of the SC verdict. Salauddin filed his review plea the same day.