Death Sentence Upheld In Bangabandhu Murder Case
nkdat...@bigmailbox.net
The News, Lahore, Pakistan
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Bangladesh rejects appeal of convicted Mujib killers
DHAKA: The Bangladesh Supreme Court rejected Thursday an appeal by
five former army officers convicted of killing the nation's founding
president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a coup more than 34 years ago.
Security was tight in the capital Dhaka with more than 12,000 extra
police deployed ahead of the ruling, which paves the way for the
execution of the killers, some 13 years after they first came to
trial.
Around 1,000 people squeezed inside the packed courtroom, while 10,000
more gathered outside, many breaking down in tears upon hearing the
final verdict in a case that has haunted the South Asian nation for
decades.
"The Supreme Court has accepted our argument that the five men are
guilty and dismissed their appeals. They are going to go to the
gallows," said chief state prosecutor Syed Anisul Haque.
Deputy Law Minister Kamrul Islam told a foreign news agency that the
executions would probably be carried out in "late December or early
January".
Sheikh Mujib, as Rahman is known, led the country to independence in
1971 after a bloody, nine-month war against Pakistan.
He was gunned down at his home, along with his wife and three sons, in
a coup on August 15, 1975.
His daughters, the current prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister
Sheikh Rehana, were abroad at the time.
"The prime minister cried after hearing the verdict. She was
overwhelmed with emotion," said Syed Ashraful Islam, the government's
chief spokesman.
Rehana, who lives overseas, said she was relieved that the trial had
finally concluded and that "justice and truth had prevailed".
"I hope the shame of the incident will be erased from our history
through this final verdict," she told online newspaper bdnews24.com.
A total of 20 people, including domestic staff, were killed when army
officers stormed Sheikh Mujib's house.
One of the state lawyers in the case, Fazle Noor Tapash, who lost both
his parents in the killings, hailed the verdict as "historic".
"Finally the souls of the father of the nation and those who were
murdered will be able to rest in peace," said an emotional Tapash, who
is an MP in Hasina's ruling party and whose father was Sheikh Mujib's
nephew.
Defence lawyers simply said they were "not satisfied" with the ruling.
The case was first heard in 1996 when Hasina became premier for the
first time and removed a legal barrier enacted by the post-Mujib
government to protect the killers. At that time, 15 men were found
guilty and sentenced to death.
Three were acquitted in 2001. Of the remaining 12, five appealed the
verdict to the Supreme Court, six are in hiding and one is believed to
have died in Zimbabwe. Hasina's government has promised to hunt down
those in hiding.
The appeal argued that Sheikh Mujib's death was part of a mutiny and
the defendants should therefore have been tried in a military rather
than a civilian court.
The Supreme Court hearing finally began last month after the
politically sensitive case had spent eight years in limbo.
Hasina lost power in 2001 to her bitter rival Khaleda Zia, under whose
government the courts failed to process the appeal.
Proceedings were only reactivated after Hasina regained power early
this year. Hasina has accused Zia's late husband Ziaur Rahman, who was
the deputy army chief under Sheikh Mujib, of playing a role in his
murder.
After Thursday's ruling, a senior leader of Zia's opposition
Bangladesh Nationalist Party said: "We all have to accept the
verdict."
There had been fears of political violence and Hasina last week warned
lawmakers to be united and alert for "untoward incidents."
The UN issued a blanket security warning for all staff, while the
British Foreign Office told its staff and their families to stay
within the diplomatic boundary in Dhaka a day before and a day after
the verdict.
uNmaiviLambi
<nkdatta2...@bigmailbox.net> wrote:
> http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=91737
>
> The News, Lahore, Pakistan
> Thursday, November 19, 2009
Will they now mysteriously escape?
Satish Kumar
Of the 12 that received death sentences, 5 are in custody. They are
unlikely to receive Presidential clemency, and barring a coup, they
will be put to death by late December or early January.
Of the 7 who were absconding, 1 died a natural death.
Six more are live as fugitives in Libya and in Pakistan,