Sunday, April 12, 2020

THE HANGING OF ABDUL MAJED


On this date, April 12, 2020, Abdul Majed, a former Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted for his role in the 1975 Jail Killing following the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, was executed by hanging at 12:01am. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the Bangladeshi Judicial did not gave any excuse and the killer executed. 

Police escort Capt (retd) Abdul Majed at a Dhaka court on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 Dhaka Tribune


Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been executed by Captain Abdul Majed, directly involved in the murder of his family. His hanging was executed at Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj at around 12:00 pm tonight. Civil surgeons, police and prison officials were present during the night operation.

Sources said the Home Ministry ordered the afternoon to schedule time for the execution of Majed. After that, three executioners led by the executioner Shajahan played a role in the execution. After receiving the Interior Ministry's order, the jail authorities handed over the weight of Abdul Majed to the brick sack. Earlier, Abdul Majed was last seen with his relatives on Friday evening. Majed's wife Saleha Begum, Shalak and uncle's father-in-law met five members of the family at Dhaka Central Jail. They were called by the authorities.
The funeral procession started at the new hanging stage at Dhaka Central Jail, located at Keraniganj, through Majd's funeral.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been executed by Captain Abdul Majed, directly involved in the murder of his family. His hanging was executed at Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj at around 12:00 pm tonight. Civil surgeons, police and prison officials were present during the night operation.
08:01 PM, April 11, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:39 AM, April 12, 2020

Bangabandhu’s killer Majed hanged

The execution of Captain Abdul Majed, convicted killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members, was carried out at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj at 12:01 am today. 

Mahbubul Islam, jailer of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, confirmed to The Daily Star at 12:03am.

On Friday, some family members of Abdul Majed met him at Dhaka Central Jail where he had been kept in solitary confinement on death row.

Earlier on Thursday, President Abdul Hamid rejected Majed's petition for presidential clemency, filed by the convict's lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol on April 8.

Captain Majed was arrested on April 7 from Gabtoli in the wee hours, after decades of remaining absconding.

He was nabbed by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of the police.

"Majed said he arrived in the country on March 15 or 16 from Kolkata. He claimed that he was hiding there for about 23 years," Hemayet Uddin Khan, assistant public prosecutor, told The Daily Star. 

The Supreme Court on November 19, 2009, upheld the death sentences of Abdul Majed and 11 other self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu. Of them, five were executed on January 27, 2010.

They were Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed.

Six other convicts, including Abdul Majed remained at large. The other fugitive killers are sacked Lt Col Khandaker Abdur Rashid, SHBM Noor Chowdhury, Shariful Haque Dalim, Rashed Chowdhury, and Risaldar Moslehuddin.

Another condemned killer, Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe in June, 2001.

Captain Majed was also found guilty and sentenced for life in the jail killing case, involving the murder of former Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and three other imprisoned Awami League leaders.

  
God takes no pleasure in the death of sinners, so as to delight simply in their death; rather, he delights to magnify his justice by inflicting the punishment which their iniquities have deserved. A righteous judge who takes no pleasure in condemning a criminal, may yet justly command him to be executed so that law and justice may be satisfied, even though it is in his power to procure him a reprieve. – George Whitefield, Letter to Wesley, Bethesda in Georgia, Dec. 24, 1740

Bangabandhu’s killer Majed hanged

Published at 12:17 am April 12th, 2020
A fugitive for over 20 years, Majed was arrested on Tuesday

Abdul Majed, one of the convicts in the killing of Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has been executed at the Dhaka Central Jail.

“The convict was hanged at 12:01am Sunday,” Inspector General (Prisons) Brigadier General AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha said.

He said other concerned officials including a magistrate, police representatives witnessed the execution as required by the law.

"This was the first case of the execution since Dhaka Central Jail was relocated in Keraniganj," he added.

Defying the coronavirus restriction, a number of people emerged in front of the jail at midnight.

Earlier, the prison authorities called Majed’s wife for a final visit as per the last wish of the death-row convict.

His body will be taken to Bhola for burial today although two MPs, including a former Chhatra League leader from Bhola have said they will not let that happen in their district.

After the execution, Law Minister Anisul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have pledged to the people that we will make sure the judgement that has been delivered by all the courts of the country, will be properly implemented and executed and I think for the 6th one we have been able to do it and we will continue till we have completed the implementation of the judgement.”

There are five other killers of Bangabandhu and his family who are on the run.

Earlier on Friday, four family members, that did not include the convict’s wife, met him at prison.

Majed’s death sentence was executed within four days after President Abdul Hamid turned down his clemency plea on Wednesday.

The same day, the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge’s court issued the death warrant for Majed, who was arrested in Dhaka on April 7.

The arrest

After being on the run for over 20 years, Majed, a sacked Bangladesh Army officer who later served in different government positions, was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday in Dhaka.

One of the 12 assassins awarded the death penalty for the 1975 killings, Majed had been hiding in Libya and Pakistan before moving to neighbouring India and residing there for the last about two decades.

Majed crossed over into Bangladesh on March 15 or 16 through the border in Mymensingh after the coronavirus pandemic unfolded.

The sacked army officer, who later served in different government positions, including at Bangladesh missions abroad, fled the country after the Awami League assumed office in 1996.

Life as a fugitive 

During initial interrogation, Majed said he had been living in neighbouring India for more than 20 years.

After going to India in 1996, he travelled to Libya and then Pakistan, before returning to India, where he had been living in different states. But for the last three to four years he had been living in Kolkata and was in touch with his family in Bangladesh.

Majed, who hails from the southern district of Bhola, was also involved in the murder of the four national leaders in Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said after his arrest.

He then worked at Bangabhaban, before leaving Bangladesh the same year, along with the other army officers involved in the assassination, for Libya.

Majed was then appointed to the Bangladesh embassy in Senegal by military ruler Ziaur Rahman.

In 1980, he was appointed to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) with the rank and status of a deputy secretary. He was subsequently promoted as secretary and served as the director of Department of Youth Development and Department of National Savings.

Majed went into hiding after the Awami League won the national elections in 1996.

Another five killers still at large

The architect of Bangladesh’s independence, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed along with most of his family members at his home. His daughters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, survived as they were abroad at the time.

The investigation into the assassinations was stopped by an Indemnity Ordinance, which saved the self-proclaimed killers from facing justice.

After the Awami League assumed office in 1996, the ordinance was abrogated, clearing the way for the killers to be brought to justice.

In 1998, a Dhaka sessions judge’s court found 15 people guilty and awarded the death penalty. In 2001, the High Court acquitted three but upheld the death sentences of 12.

In 2010, the Appellate Division upheld the verdict. The same year, five of the convicts — Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohiuddin Ahmed—were hanged.

Another convict Aziz Pasha died as a fugitive in Zimbabwe.

Majed was one of the six absconding convicts along with Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, M Rashed Chowdhury, SHMB Noor Chowdhury and Risaldar Moslemuddin until he was arrested and executed on Sunday.

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