Opposition leaders Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury were put to death late Saturday in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, following a controversial trial.
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The United States sharpened its criticism of Bangladesh’s tribunal on war crimes after the death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court.
Majharul Islam, deputy jailer of Dhaka Central Jail, handed over the body of SQ Chowdhury to his younger son Hummam Quader Chowdhury around 9:10am while the body of Mojaheed was handed over to his family members around 6:50am in presence of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Faridpur Abdur Rashid. Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha headed the four-member Appellate Division bench that, on June 16, gave its verdict on Mujahid, who was the former commander of Al-Badr, the militia raised by Pakistan to crush the Bengali struggle for independence.
Chowdhury and Mojaheed were leaders of parties opposed to the governing Awami League, which is led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Kabir said, “They have been hanged together, at the same time”.
The BNP leader was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail at 12:55am on Sunday for the crimes against humanity he committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
Mujahid was a senior leader of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party and Chowdhury had been elected a member of parliament six times.
“We had to endure years of pain and shame as these war criminals would taunt us”.
The executions followed the rejection of mercy pleas of the two leaders by President Abdul Hamid.
The convictions triggered Bangladesh’s deadliest violence since independence, with a few 500 people killed, mainly in clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami activists and police.
Mujahid, 67, was the head of Islami Chhatra Sangha, then the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. 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. He was accused of carrying out war crimes, including killing more than 200 civilians, mostly minority Hindus, during the independence war, according to evidence presented at the tribunal.
The issue of war crimes has always been a divisive one in the predominantly Muslim country of 160 million, since the war forged the new, secular nation of Bangladesh from what had been East Pakistan.
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However, independent researchers say the overall death toll was much lower.
