Ending all speculations after an eleventh hour drama of halting preparation of execution on Tuesday midnight, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla was hanged last night for committing crimes against humanity against the pro-liberation people in 1971.
Quader Molla, well-known as “Mirpurer Koshai” (Butcher of Mirpur) for his heinous crimes, swung from the gallows at 10:01pm at the Dhaka Central Jail amid tight security.
Dhaka’s Deputy Commissioner Shaikh Yusuf Harun, also the district magistrate, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It was done at 10:01pm.” He was present at the site during the execution.
“He [Molla] be hanged till death,” the Appellate Division ordered in its verdict on September 17.
The verdict was implemented amid beefed up security and apprehension of accelerating violence by activists of Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir that got a new momentum on Tuesday night.
Earlier, Jamaat-Shibir threatened to wage civil war and burning 56,000 sq-km of the country if he was executed.
He was the first ever war criminal of the country since the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 to be executed for committing war crimes 42 years ago during the nine-month-long bloody war of independence.
Quader Molla, the assistant secretary general of Jamaat, has been executed only two days before the Martyred Intellectuals’ Day and four days ahead of the Victory Day.
Jamaat and its then student wing Islami Chhatra Shangha were responsible for orchestrated killing of Bangalee intellectuals prior to the birth of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
During the war, Jamaat, Chhatra Sangha and few other communal organisations had collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army that killed around 30 lakh people and violated more than 2.5 lakh women and children.
The government implemented the Supreme Court verdict of executing the war criminal about eight hours after the apex court decision that rejected Quader Molla’s pleas to review his conviction and sentences.
The Supreme Court sentenced him to death in one of the six war crimes charges, though the apex court convicted him in all the six charges for killing more than 350 Bangalees and violating a girl.
A prison official wishing not to be named told the Dhaka Tribune that well-known imprisoned executioner Md Shahjahan Ali Bhuiyan was assigned as the main hangman to implement the historic execution.
Shahjahan along with his some other imprisoned hangmen brought the convict from condemned cell to the gallows about 10 minutes before the execution.
Before bringing him to the gallows, the prison authorities completed some processes including health check-up and rituals such as performing Tawbah (repentance) in front of a Maulana.
According to the source, Quader Molla was wearing condemned prisoners’ uniform and his head was covered by a black sack called “Jom Tupi” in Bangla when he was being taking to the gallows on foot.
When he was standing on the gallows, the executioner put the noose around his neck. The prison officials call the noose “Manila Rope” as it is imported from Manila, capital of the Philippines.
When the time of execution came, a Dhaka central jail official dropped a white handkerchief on the floor as a signal to Shahjahan to hang the convict.
The executioner pulled the lever of the gallows that removed the floor on which Quader Molla was standing and his body hanging on the noose.
A group of armed prison guards were around the gallows. The district magistrate and also deputy commissioner of Dhaka district, the chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka, the district civil surgeon, top prison officials, representatives from different security agencies and Imam of the Dhaka central jail mosque were present at the time of execution.
The prison authorities kept Quader Molla’s body hanging for about half an hour, and after that the prison doctors examined the body and confirmed his death.
After an autopsy, an ambulance escorted by police carried the body to Quader Molla’s village home in Faridpur from Dhaka central jail around midnight.
The prison official said Shahjahan was an experienced hangman who executed many such convicts in different prisons of the country in the past including the much-talked about killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Islamist militants.
Shahjahan is a convicted prisoner. He was from Isakhali village under Palash of Narsingdi. He has been convicted in two criminal cases. In one case, he was awarded 12 years’ jail in 1992 and in an arms case, awarded life term (30 years) imprisonment in 1995, said a prison official.
The official said: “According to the rule, 60 days’ jail term will be waived if a convict prisoner implements one execution.” This official, however, could not confirm how many executions hangman Shahjahan had implemented so far.
After the Supreme Court rejected the review petitions, people in every corner were curiously waiting to know when he would be executed.
Information was pouring from different sources that there was discussion at the top of the government last evening to fix a day and time of hanging Quader Molla.
Though on Tuesday two state ministers and the prison officials announced time of execution officially before the press, yesterday the government refrained from doing so, apparently because of severe criticism for their acts on Tuesday.
But when the prison authorities allowed Quader Molla’s family members again to meet him at the Dhaka Central Jail early yesterday evening, the speculation of execution got the momentum.
Later, different sources said the government directed the prison authorities to execute the condemned war criminal last night.
In protest against the execution, Jamaat last night announced a countrywide shutdown for Sunday. In a statement, the 18-party opposition ally also warned that those involved with the trial and the execution would have to face dire consequences.
Birth of Shahbagh movement
The tribunal verdict had given birth to the never-seen-before congregation of people of all strata mainly the youths at Shahbagh movement that demanded maximum punishment for all war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-Shibir politics.
The movement prompted the government to amend the ICT Act, 1973 to ensure equal right for the government and the defence to appeal against a tribunal verdict. Before the amendment on February 17, the government could appeal only against an acquittal.
Both the parties appealed for against the tribunal verdict in March.
The movement, spearheaded by bloggers and online activists, put Jamaat in a serious crisis of existence as thousands of protesters joined the gathering in the following days demanding a ban on this anti-liberation political party and with a call to boycott the business organisations affiliated with the party.
Jamaat, with the help of main opposition BNP and radical Islamist organisation Hefazat-e Islam, came down hard on the Shahbagh protestors, labelling them “atheists.”
Hundreds of people started to gather at the Shahbagh intersection since Tuesday evening when they came to know about the decision of executing Quader Molla to celebrate the long-cherished moment. But they were frustrated over the stay order put by the chamber judge at the last moment.
They announced to continue sit-in at the place until the war criminal was hanged.
There was jubilation in Shahbagh last night. Many commoners expressed their emotion as their demand of trying the 1971 war criminals finally began to be met. Many broke into tears of joy at Shahbagh and many other places across the country.
There are more than a dozen war criminals either accused or have already been convicted by the two tribunals for their involvement in crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes committed during the Liberation War.
Most convicted war criminals have been awarded death sentence by the tribunals, but they appealed with the apex court. On the other hand, the government appealed to award Ghulam Azam and Abdul Alim death sentence as the tribunals gave them jail considering age and health.
