A Dhaka court issued a death warrant for Captain (retd) Abdul Majed, one of the convicts in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
According to law, the countdown to execute Majed’s death sentence began after issuance of the warrant on Wednesday.
Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Md Helal Chowdhury issued the warrant and read it out to Majed after he was produced in court.
The death warrant, wrapped in a red cloth has been sent to the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj where Majed is kept in solitary confinement, designated for convicts condemned to death, after being arrested from Dhaka’s Mirpur area.
Public Prosecutor of Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Court Khandakar Abdul Mannan Khan, said Majed stated that he is not guilty of murder but he admitted to the court that was on duty at that time.
Following the coronavirus pandemic, the government has announced a public holiday till April 14. The Dhaka District and Sessions Judge court opened on Wednesday upon permission from the Supreme Court only to issue the death warrant.
Presidential clemency
State Lawyer Advocate Mosharraf Hossain Kajol told the media, it is his personal choice whether he would apply for presidential clemency. But there is a legal provision for executing a death sentence between 21 and after 28 days of issuing the death warrant.
Convict or his family members can file a mercy petition to the president, if he wants. The jail authority has no issue whether or not he does or doesn’t file a mercy petition, Kajol added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Abdul Majed was sent to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj after being produced before the court of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AM Zulfikar Hayat.
No lawyer appeared to defend Majed when Sub-Inspector Anisur Rahman prayed for detaining him in jail as he was shown arrested in the Bangabandhu murder case.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Hemayetuddin Hiron told Dhaka Tribune that Majed, a dismissed army officer, had himself claimed to have been one of the murderers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family.
Earlier on Monday night, a team from Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police arrested Majed from Dhaka’s Mirpur Cantonment area.
On November 19, 2009, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict that awarded capital punishment to 12 killers for killing Bangabandhu and most of his family members in a coup on August 15, 1975.
Still, five Bangabandhu killers remain fugitive -- Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Maj (retd) Noor Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Rashed Chowdhury, and Risaldar Moslehuddin Khan.
Went into hiding
Majed went into hiding after the Awami League won the national elections in 1996.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed along with most of his family members at his residence in Dhanmondi. His daughters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana survived as they were abroad at that time.
The investigation into the assassinations was stopped by an Indemnity Ordinance, which saved the self-proclaimed killers from facing justice.
After the Awami League assumed office in 1996, the ordinance was abrogated in November the same year, clearing the way for the killers to be brought to justice.
In 1998, a Dhaka sessions judge’s court found 15 people guilty and awarded them the death penalty. In 2001, the High Court acquitted three but upheld the death sentences of 12.
In 2010, the Appellate Division upheld the verdict. The same year, five of the convicts -- Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohiuddin Ahmed -- were hanged.
Another convict Aziz Pasha died as a fugitive in Zimbabwe.
Majed was one of six absconding convicts, along with Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, M Rashed Chowdhury, SHMB Noor Chowdhury and Risaldar Moslemuddin, until he was arrested on Tuesday.
