Salauddin, Mojaheed executed
BNP standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were executed shortly after midnight past Saturday, on charge of crimes against humanity in the liberation war of 1971.
Their death penalties were executed inside the Dhaka central jail between 12:15am and 12:45am on Sunday after exhaustion of all legal options and controversies over presidential clemency, said additional Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan.
The government said Salauddin and Mojaheed filed mercy petitions, a claim that their families denied. Bangabhaban sources said the president rejected the reported clemency pleas.
Earlier between 9:15pm and 11:45pm Saturday, members of the families of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed had their final meetings with them in the jail before their execution.
They were the two most high-profile war crimes convicts who walked to the gallows.
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was a minister during the HM Ershad’s regime, parliamentary affairs adviser to the then prime minister of the BNP government Khaleda Zia and, of late, standing committee member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, secretary general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, served as a minister during the BNP-led four-party alliance government’s rule between 2001 and 2006.
With them, four war crimes convicts were hanged after the International Crimes Tribunal, a specialised court set up during the last tenure of ruling Awami League, awarded them capital punishment for crimes committed during the country’s war of liberation in 1971.
Jamaat assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was executed on 11 April 2015 and another assistant secretary general Abdul Kader Molla on 12 December 2013.
Earlier on 26 July 2010, the ICT lodged war crimes case against Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
On 1 October 2013, the then International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced the BNP leader to death as he was found guilty of nine out of 23 charges brought against him.
On 29 October 2013, the BNP leader appealed against the ICT verdict.
Following an arrest warrant on charge of hurting religious sentiment, on 16 December 2010, the police arrested Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and he was shown arrested later on 19 December 2010 in the cases relating to the crimes against humanity.
On 17 July 2013, the then International Crimes Tribunal-2 gave death sentence to Jamaat leader Mojaheed as he was found guilty of five out of seven charges.
On 21 June 2012, the tribunal indicted Mojaheed on seven charges.
He was arrested on 29 June 2010.
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