Salauddin, Mojaheed seek clemency, says govt

The government has said death row convicts BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed applied to the president for clemency.

“The mercy petitions of Salauddin and Mojaheed have reached me,” home ministry’s senior secretary Mozammael Haque Khan told Prothom Alo on Saturday afternoon.
But neither the law minister nor the home minister confirmed the matter.
They, however, said they have heard that Salauddin and Mojaheed have appealed for the presidential clemency.
On the contrary, Jamaat-e-Islami has trashed the government claim, terming the news of seeking presidential mercy by Mojaheed “false and baseless”.
“I have come to know that Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed have filed mercy petitions, but the petitions have not reached me as yet,” said the law minister, Anisul Huq.
At about 3:00pm, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said, “I have heard the matter, but I’m not sure about it as I’m at my residence.”
Home ministry officials said the petitions will be sent to the law ministry for legal opinion on the matter.
Family members of the two war crimes convicts said they knew nothing about seeking the clemency.
Mojaheed’s son Ali Ahmed Mabrur said he does not believe that his father has sought presidential clemency.