Five killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hanged

DHAKA - Five former army officers were handcuffed and their heads covered with black hoods before a jail official dropped his handkerchief, a signal to pull the lever to hang them early Thursday for the killing of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The five condemned prisoners - Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed - were walked to the gallows shortly after midnight at the Dhaka Central Jail.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members were killed in a putsch led by serving and former army officers Aug 15, 1975.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Mohammed Tafazzul Islam Wednesday dismissed their review petitions against the verdict confirming their death sentence, clearing the way for executing them.

“Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Syed Farooq Rahman were the first to walk to the gallows at 12.05 a.m. They were handcuffed and their heads were covered in black hoods in the final minutes to midnight,” Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Zillar Rahman told The Daily Star.

Two hangmen put two nooses around their necks.

It was 12.05 a.m.

Dhaka Jail Superintendent Touhidul Islam dropped a handkerchief from his hand to signal the hangmen. The two chief hangmen pulled the levers.

Sultan Shahriar and Farooq were kept hanging for half an hour to confirm their deaths, witnesses were quoted as saying.

At 12:35 a.m., two other killers - A.K.M. Mohiuddin and Bazlul Huda - were brought to the gallows. They were also executed.

Then it was the turn of Mohiuddin Ahmed. He was brought to the gallows at 1.05 a.m.

There was tight security at the Dhaka Central Jail.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion, police and armed police battalion were deployed around the prison.

As the news spread that Bangabandhu’s killers would be hanged, hundreds of people began to gather outside the jail.

Before the hanging, the prisoners were bathed around 11 p.m. Half an hour later, the civil surgeon and two other doctors conducted their medical check-up.

After it was all over, the bodies of the five former army officers were sent to their villages in five ambulances under police protection.

Chief State Counsel Anisul Huq said Wednesday the jail authorities could execute the five detained convicts at any time before Jan 31.

As per the jail code provision, the jail authorities could execute a convict between 21 and 28 days after a trial court issued death warrant against him, he added.

The trial court issued the death warrant against the five men Jan 3 and the jail authorities would count it from that day, he said.

On Nov 19 last year, the apex court confirmed death sentences to a dozen ex-army personnel, including the five.

Of the seven others, one died and six are on the run. The government has moved the Interpol and the governments in the US, Canada, Libya and Pakistan to get their custody.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is Mujibur Rahman’s daughter, ignored a plea by Amnesty International, a US-based human rights watchdog, that the death sentences be converted into life imprisonment.