Five killers of Bangladesh founder executed

DHAKA - Bangladesh early Thursday hanged five out of 12 former military officers convicted in the 1975 assassination of the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, media reports said.

The execution of the killers came 35 years after Mujibur was killed along with most of his family in a military putsch Aug 15, 1975.

The condemned killers walked to the gallows one after another shortly after midnight Wednesday at Dhaka Central Jail amid tight security, the Daily Star newspaper reported quoting unnamed officials.

Those hanged were former artillery officer Mohiuddin Ahmed, and four retired officers - major Bazlul Huda, lieutenant colonel Sultan Shariar Rashid Khan, lieutenant colonel Syed Farooq Rahman and major A.K.M. Mohiuddin.

Earlier, mercy petitions from four of them were summarily rejected by President Zillur Rahman. The Supreme Court also rejected their petitions to review the death penalty after the punishment had been approved by a special judge’s court and confirmed by the High Court.

Law enforcers wrapped tight security cordons around the central jail areas in the densely populated old city sector. Several thousand gathered beside the barriers curious about the execution of Mujibur’s self-declared killers, who were tried under civilian law.

The crowd chanted slogans asking the government to bring back the rest of those convicted in the killing to face execution. Six of the others are fugitives. The seventh reportedly died in Zimbabwe in 2001, officials said.

After the Supreme Court rejected the appeal, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed had ruled the execution could take place before Jan 31, in accord with a period of time set by law.

Mujibur, who led Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, was killed along with most of his family by a group of disgruntled army officers in a military putsch which overthrew the elected government.

The assassins were not pursued by subsequent governments. A murder case was filed only after Mujibur’s eldest daughter, Hasina, became prime minister in 1996.

But the trial process was halted after Hasina lost power in the 2001 general elections. She resumed the process only after she returned to office with a huge parliamentary majority in late 2008 general elections.

Human rights groups and the European Union last week opposed the death sentences, saying the murders had been “politically motivated”.