M Khairuzzuman, a former ambassador and accused of involvement in the 1975 brutal killings of four national leaders in jail, was arrested in Malaysia on charges of violating immigration laws on Wednesday.
The arrest was made according to procedures and at the request of Bangladesh, reported the Malaysian newspaper The Star, quoting Malaysian Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin on Thursday.
A senior official at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur also confirmed the development to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday.
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Subsequently, Law Minister Anisul Huq and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, while confirming the arrest of the former major of the Bangladesh Army, said that the government was trying to bring him back to the country.
A controversial individual, Khairuzzaman, who has served as Bangladesh’s high commissioner to Malaysia and acting ambassador to the Philippines, is said to have been living in the Southeast Asian country for more than a decade with a United Nations refugee card, say media reports.
When contacted, Law Minister Anisul Huq told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday evening, “I am aware of the development. We are now trying to bring him back to Bangladesh.”
Replying to a question, he said, “Once he is in the country, we will examine what offences he has committed.”
The Malaysian authorities informed the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday in writing that Khairuzzaman had been arrested for violating immigration law.
“He (Khairuzzaman) was arrested for violating immigration law. But, right now, I do not know which provision of the law he broke,” Shahriar Alam told journalists at the Foreign Ministry.
“Those who are arrested in relation to immigration offences are kept in detention centres before they are deported to their respective countries. He has also been kept in such a detention centre,” the state minister said, adding that the government was working on bringing him back.
“Unlike some western countries, Malaysia does not provide shelter to killers. We hope we will be able to bring him back,” he said.
"We hope to be able to bring him back soon,” he added.
Shahriar Alam said, “As far as I know, he was acquitted in the jail killing case. As far as I understand, there is scope for questioning him physically and for the case to be reopened, about which the law ministry can say better.”
“The home ministry and the law ministry will then jointly decide at what stage of the case he will be questioned again or how the case will be renewed," he said.
When a reporter said that Khairuzzaman had a United Nations refugee card with validity till 2024, the state minister said, “I do not know about it. But we will check.”
The activities of the UN reflect the laws of the member states, he noted.
About implicating Khairuzzaman again in the jail killing case, a top official at the Law Ministry told this correspondent, “He was acquitted in that case. How can you implicate him again?”
Khairuzzaman joined the foreign service in 1975 after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the killings of the four national leaders.
He was appointed high commissioner to Malaysia in 2007 during the emergency regime of the military-installed caretaker administration.
Khairuzzaman was accused in the November 3, 1975 murder of the four national leaders Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamruzzaman, months after the killings of Bangabandhu and most of his family members.
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After the Awami League came to power in 1996, Khairuzzaman was recalled from his post of acting ambassador in the Philippines to stand trial. He was arrested the same year and his retirement was made compulsory.
Khairuzzaman was bailed out in 2001, when the BNP-Jamaat alliance took over power.
In 2003, he was appointed director general at the foreign ministry and the charges against him in the jail killing case were dropped in 2004. Under the BNP, he served as a diplomat from 2001-2006.
Three years after his name was dropped from the jail killing case, he was appointed high commissioner to Malaysia in 2007 by the caretaker government.
When the Awami League returned to power in 2009, he was recalled to stand trial. Khairuzzaman, however, remained in Malaysia after securing refugee status from the UNHCR.