Khan, who has been waiting at the gate of Dhaka central jail for permission to meet Salauddin since 10:00am today, said: “There might have conspiracy in this regard”.
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Following the wish of Salauddin and Mojaheed’s family members, the dead bodies of the convicts will be sent to their village homes for burial. “There is no time limit when the president will take a decision, but he will consult with the prime minister”, the minister said.
According to jail sources, the prison authorities have called close relatives of Chowdhury and Mujaheed to see them for the last time.
Former Al-Badr commander Mujahid was sentenced to death in 2013 for the murder of intellectuals and killing of Hindus during the Liberation War.
Mujahid, 67, is the second most senior member of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, while Chowdhury, 66, is an ex-lawmaker and a top aide to Khaleda Zia, leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
State prosecutor Tureen Afroz said Bangladesh’ Constitution empowers the President with the authority to grant clemency to any convict “but we hope the president will not exercise the power”. “We are the victims of repression and intentional harassment”, Ali Ahmad Mabrur, a son of Mujahid, told Reuters by email.
They had sought presidential clemency admitting their guilt.
They are among more than a dozen leaders of the Opposition alliance convicted by the tribunal, which was set up by the secular government in 2010.
The convictions triggered the country’s deadliest violence since independence, with a few 500 people killed, mainly in clashes between Jamaat activists and the police.
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Jamaat-e-Islami called a nationwide strike on Thursday, declaring Mujahid’s original trial “farcical” and “aimed at eliminating” the party’s leadership. While rights groups say atrocities were committed and there needs to be accountability, worldwide doubts over the legal proceedings against the opposition figures have intensified.
