A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal has issued death warrants for two former ministers – Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.
The warrants were issued on Thursday, a day after the country’s International Crimes Tribunal- 1 received the copies of full judgments of the Supreme Court upholding the death penalty of Mojaheed, secretary general of Jamaat e Islami, and Chowdhury, a top leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), for committing crimes against humanity.
Under law, the warrants would be sent to the jail authorities soon and its copies will be forwarded to magistrates and other authorities concerned, to initiate the process for execution.
Mojaheed, who was the commander of the notorious al-Badr killing squad during the Liberation war in 1971, is currently in Dhaka Central Jail.
Chowdhury, who had taken part in the annihilation of scores of pro-independence people, mostly the Hindu minorities, in Chittagong, is kept at the Kashimpur High-Security Jail near Dhaka.
The International Crimes Tribunal on October 1, 2013 sentenced Chowdhury, 66, son of Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, to death on four out of nine proven charges, including the murder and genocides in Chittagong.
Mojaheed, 69, who was the Social welfare minister during the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s 2001-06 government, was sentenced to death by the tribunal on July 17 the same year.
PTI adds:
Lawmaker, son held
A lawmaker with Bangladesh’s main opposition party was arrested on Thursday, along with his son, on charges of committing war crimes during the 1971 liberation war.
M.A. Hannan, member of Jatiya Party, and Rafique Sazzad, 62, were arrested after warrants were issued against them by International Crimes Tribunal.
Arrest warrants have been issued against eight others. “We also received warrants ordering arrest of eight other suspected 1971 collaborators but we would disclose their names only after they are arrested, ” police officials said.
