Bangladesh hanged two top opposition leaders Sunday for alleged war crimes committed during 1971 conflict with Pakistan.
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President Abdul Hamid rejected their mercy petitions last evening, hours after they had sought presidential clemency in a last-ditch attempt to escape the gallows.
The government has stepped up security in Dhaka and other sensitive locations in the country ahead of a strike called by Jamaat tomorrow to protest the executions.
After the execution, ambulances escorted by elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and armed police came out of the prison complex carrying the bodies.
Mujahid, 67, was the head of Islami Chhatra Sangha, then the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.
This was the first time that the country executed a member of the parliament who is the leader of the BNP headed by ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia, a rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Justice and accountability for the bad crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence are crucial, but trials need to meet worldwide fair trial standards”, Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
The convictions triggered Bangladesh’s deadliest violence since independence, with some 500 people killed, mainly in clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami activists and police.
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”.
US lawmakers overseeing foreign policy described the tribunal as “very flawed” and a means of political retribution.
Mujahid was convicted for his role in the killing of intellectuals by the Pakistan Army at the fag end of the 1971 War.
Security has been beefed up at all sensitive points in the capital, and across the country especially in potential trouble spots like Faridpur and Chittagong to avoid any untoward incident following their execution.
Many leaders, including JI Bangladesh chief and secretary general, have already been executed for 1971’s controversial war crimes and several others still remain in cue.
Both of them appealed against the verdicts, but the Supreme Court upheld their death sentences.
In their instant reaction to the Islamabad statement, Bangladeshi ministers, politicians, war crimes campaigners said it was a blatant violation of diplomatic norms and interference in Bangladesh’s domestic issues.
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Such extremist violence was once rare in Bangladesh, which is mostly Muslim but with a strong secular tradition.
