Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq has said the verdict of a Canadian Federal Court has cleared the way of dialogue with the Canadian government over bringing back home Bangabandhu’s self confessed and convicted killer Noor Chowdhury.
“The verdict of the Canadian Federal Court is one step forward in the way of bringing back Noor Chowdhury. It also allowed disclosing Noor’s immigration status in Canada which was, earlier, closed by the Canadian government, saying that it was a shut case,” he said in an interview at his Gulshan residence in the city on Saturday night.
The minister said: “We can now exchange information with the Canadian government and give correct documents if Noor had given any wrong information to the Canadian authorities. We will try to utilize this opportunity to expedite the extradition process of Noor”.
About the next step to bring back Noor, Anisul said the government is considering sending a letter to the Canadian government with the right information about Noor Chowdhury.
“We will continue our best efforts until we bring back the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s killers Noor Chowdhury and Rashed Chowdhury. We will also try to bring back the other four untraced killers,” said the minister.
“The Canadian government, earlier, used to tell us ‘There is capital punishment in your country. And you have already awarded him (Noor) that punishment. So, we will not handover him to you’. But we came to know that Noor was not given political asylum there rather his deputation was also postponed,” he added.
“Suspension of the deputation refers to sending back any person to his country. But Noor’s plea for pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) had stopped the deputation process,” the minister said.
The government requested the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada to
share the information on what basis the PRRA was conducted, Anisul said, adding, “But they
refused to give any information on the ground that public interest will be affected”.
He continued: “They asked us to show our public interest in this regard. However, after their rejection, we lodged a plea with the Canadian Federal Court appointing a lawyer there.
And in the verdict, the court said that the information sought by Bangladesh should be given”.
The Canadian Federal Court on September 17 withdrew the ban on disclosing immigration status
of Bangabandhu’s killer Noor Chowdhury.
Justice James W O’Reilly of Federal Court of Ottawa, Ontario announced the verdict.
The court in its observation said, “Bangladesh’s application for judicial review should be allowed because the minister failed to give serious consideration to public interest that would be served if the information sought were disclosed.”
Bangabandhu was killed along with his wife and three sons including 10-year-old Russel on
August 15 in 1975 carnage. His daughters, incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, survived the carnage as they were abroad at that time.
After 35 years of Bangabandhu killing, five self-confessed killers — ex-lieutenant colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed (artillery), ex-major Bazlul Huda, ex-lieutenant colonel Syed Faruq Rahman,
ex-lieutenant colonels Shahriar Rashid Khan and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed (lancer) — were hanged on January 28 in 2010 putting an end to the darkest chapter of the nation’s history.
However, the convicted killers– Lt Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, MA Rashed Chowdhury, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Lt Col (Retd) Noor Chowdhury, Abdul Mazed
and Risalder Moslem Uddin Khan-still remain fugitive abroad.
Among them Rashed Chowdhury is staying in the USA while Noor Chowdhury in Canada, and the remaining convicted killers are yet to be traced.
