UN seeks stay of Molla’s execution

The United Nations called for an eleventh-hour stay to the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla in a letter late on Tuesday. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay wrote the letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking a halt to the execution, a press release said. The move came at a time when United Nations’ Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco is in Bangladesh to “broker a political deal.” It was announced that Quader Molla’s execution would take place after Tuesday midnight. But, later it was stayed until 10:30am Wednesday. “The United Nations opposes the imposition of the death penalty under any circumstance, even for the most serious international crimes,” the press release said. Two UN Special Rapporteurs, on the independence of judges and lawyers and on summary executions, have also called for the execution to be stayed, amid concerns that Mollah did not receive a fair trial. The European Union also expressed concerns on the same note in a statement. “The European Union notes the concerns that have been expressed by the United Nations special rapporteurs on independence of judges and lawyers and on summary executions regarding the lack of opportunity for appeal or review of the sentence,” said a statement. Earlier, British Senior Foreign Office Minister Baroness Warsi issued a statement in this regard. “I am deeply concerned at reports of plans to execute Molla in the coming days.” “The UK calls again for Bangladesh to implement a moratorium on the death penalty leading to the eventual abolition of the death penalty.” Quader Molla is a war criminal convicted of crimes committed against humanity during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.