Dismissed army captain Abdul Majed, one of the self-confessed killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, may be executed in the early hours of Sunday. Talking to Bangladesh Post, several high-profile sources on condition of anonymity hinted in this regard.
However, everything is now dependent on the executive order to execute the killer.
The jail authorities have formed a team of 10 hangmen to execute Abdul Majed. Shajahan will lead the team which also includes Md
Abul,Tariqul and Shohel.
Family members of the killer went to the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj on the outskirts of the capital Friday evening to meet him. Jailer Mahbub Islam confirmed the meeting to Bangladesh Post. Majed’s wife, brother-in-law and an uncle-in-law were among the five of his family members and relatives who entered in the jail. A senior officer of Dhaka Central Jail said, “After the rejection of Abdul Majed’s presidential clemency, jail authorities are holding series of meetings to complete last moment preparations for the execution.”
They are now waiting for the executive order from the home ministry to hang the hared killer. Another top official of Directorate of Prisons said, “We are just waiting for the green light from the government high ups.” Before hanging him, the jail authority will call his family members to meet him for the last time.
About the exact time of execution, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal also said, “After rejection of his mercy petition, we now have no bar to execute him.” The home boss said, “But at present, I can not exactly inform you when he will be executed.” The jail authorities will take steps to hang him as soon as possible as per jail code, he further said.
Earlier on Thursday, Md Shahiduzzaman, Secretary for the Security Services Division of the Home Ministry, said that President Abdul Hamid had rejected the mercy petition of Abdul Majed. On Wednesday, a Dhaka court issued Majed’s death warrant as a condemned convict in the Bangabandhu murder case.
As per law, the countdown to execute Majed’s death sentence began following issuance of the warrant. Dhaka District and Sessions Judge, Md Helal Chowdhury issued the warrant and read it out to Majed after he was produced before court. The death warrant, wrapped in a red cloth was sent to the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj where Majed is kept in solitary confinement, designated for convicts condemned to death.
Meanwhile, Law Minister, Anisul Huq also said that Abdul Majed would be executed as early as possible. He however said “I don't know the exact time of the execution; the jail authority will confirm it.” Earlier on Tuesday, Abdul Majed was sent to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj. He was produced before the court of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AM Zulfikar Hayat.
A team from Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police arrested Majed from the city’s Mirpur Cantonment area early Monday . On November 19 in 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of Abdul Majed and 11 other self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu.
On January 27 in 2010, five of them were executed in Dhaka Central Jail. Six other convicts including Abdul Majed remained at large. In June 2001, another condemned killer died in Zimbabwe. In 2010, a task force comprising ministers and high officials of the foreign, law and home ministries was formed to locate and bring back the fugitives.
The government had also made global appeals in bilateral, regional and international forums to track down the culprits. Twelve ex-military officers were sentenced to death for the August 15, 1975 killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members, and five of them were executed while one died a natural death as he was on the run abroad.
The five were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on January 28, 2010, after a protracted legal procedure while the delayed trial process began in 1996 when an infamous indemnity law was scrapped as it was protecting the assassins from justice until then. The five were sacked lieutenant colonels Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed and sacked major Bazlul Huda while another convict, sacked colonel Rashed Pasha, died a natural death in Zimbabwe while he was on the run.
Farooq Rahman, Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed of artillery faced the trial in the judge court while Huda was extradited from Thailand and another Mohiuddin known as lancer Mohiuddin was sent back from the United States after the then district judge Golam Rasul delivered the judgment.
Majed was one of the remaining fugitives believed to be hiding abroad with no confirmed whereabouts. After the August 15, 1975 carnage, Majed was rehabilitated in civil service during the subsequent regime of Ziaur Rahman as an ex-cadre official and posted as the director of National Savings Department, and later, he was transferred to the finance ministry.
He fled the country along with most other 1975 coup plotters as the 1996 general elections brought Awami League back to power under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership which vowed to bring to justice Bangabandhu’s killers in line with its election manifesto.