Dhaka Central Jail from the front ahead of execution of two top war criminals SQ Chy and Mojaheed. Photo: Palash Khan.
Star Online Report
Two men, who tried their best – carrying out genocide and
assassinating intellectuals and professionals – to stop birth of
Bangladesh 44 years ago, have met their end inside Dhaka jail.
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were
executed at 12:55am today, after a long trial process that began with
their arrest almost five years ago.
Their bodies would be handed over to their families for burial in
their village home. Chowdhury will be buried at his family graveyard in
Chittagong while Mojaheed in his home village in Faridpur.
Mojaheed, who was the chief of infamous Al-Badr Bahini in 1971, is
the first person, who had the national flag of Bangladesh hoisted in his
car as a minister, to be hanged by the court of the country.
While law enforcers put up layers of security around Dhaka Central
Jail amid heightened alert, paramilitary force Border Guard Bangladesh
(BGB) were deployed in the capital, Dhaka, and Chittagong to ward off
any violence.
With the execution of the two, total four individuals were executed for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s 1971 bloody war of independence. FOLLOW LIVE EXECUTION UPDATES, CLICK HERE
The process to carry out the execution of the two top war criminals –
Chowdhury, a standing committee member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP), and Mojaheed, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami – were
finalised after 9:45pm yesterday when the president turned down the
convicts’ petition for clemency.
The authorities of Dhaka Central Jail contacted families of Mojaheed
and Chowdhury around 8:00pm, asking them to meet the two convicts in
jail.
Dhaka Deputy Commissioner Tofazzal Hossain Mia and additional IG of
Prisons Fazlul Kabir are inside the jail. IG of Prisons Brig Gen Syed
Iftekhar Uddin was also inside for a while.
Also, Dhaka Jam-e-mosque Imam Monir Hossain and district Civil
Surgeon Abdul Maleque Mridha are also inside the jail, showing evident
signs of imminent execution.
Eighteen members of SQ Chowdhury’s family, including his wife Farhat
Quader and two sons Fazlul Quader and Hummam Quader, went inside and
stayed for over an hour.
SQ Chowdhury denied filing any mercy plea, Hummam Quader told
reporters after coming out. “He (SQ Chowdhury) said: ‘Who says such
rubbish? I didn’t file any mercy.’”
Around eight members of Mojaheed’s family arrived at Dhaka jail gates
around 10:26pm. They waited around before entering the jail at 10:58pm
yesterday.
Four ambulances went inside the Dhaka jail at 12:35am today
immediately after the family members of Mojaheed came out from the jail.
Security around Dhaka Central Jail and adjoining areas was
heightened. A large number of law enforcers including police, Rapid
Action Battalion (Rab) and prison guards were deployed.
All shops and establishments around the jail area were ordered to
shut by 8:00pm. Onlookers were asked to clear the area. The road leading
to jail from Chawkbazar was closed around 7:40pm.
The long legal battles in the war crimes cases against Mojaheed and
SQ Chowdhury finally came to an end on November 18 when the Supreme
Court dismissed their petitions for reviewing its verdict that upheld
their death penalty given by two special tribunals in 2013.
Salauddin, a self-proclaimed brigadier in 1971, was sentenced to
death in October that year for committing crimes against humanity and
acts of genocide in Chittagong in 1971.
He was given death penalty on four charges – the killing of
philanthropist Natun Chandra Sinha, murders of Awami League leader
Mozaffar Ahmed and his son, and two acts of genocide in Sultanpur
Banikpara and Unasattarpara in Raozan of Chittagong.
The BNP leader was given 20 years in jail each on two charges and five years' imprisonment each on two other charges.
Mojaheed was handed down death penalty in July 2013 for planning and
instigating the killing of intellectuals and professionals at the fag
end of the Liberation War.
He was given life sentence on two other charges, and five years' imprisonment on one.
Both convicts filed review petitions on October 14 this year after
the SC upheld their death penalty. On November 18, a four-member SC
bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed both
petitions.
Earlier, two war crimes convicts – Jamaat leaders Abdul Quader Mollah
and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman – were executed since the war crimes trial
began in March 2010.
Quader Mollah was hanged hours after the jail authorities received a
short SC order on his review petition on December 12, 2013, while
Kamaruzzaman was executed on April 11 this year after the prison
authorities got the full SC order on his review petition.
CASE DETAILS SQ CHOWDHURY
Law enforcers arrested Salauddin on December 16, 2010 at Banani in
the capital in connection with torching a car in Moghbazar on June 26.
He was shown arrested on December 19 following a warrant issued by the
tribunal.
On October 1, 2013, the tribunal found Salauddin, now 66, guilty of
nine of the 23 charges brought against him of committing crimes against
humanity.
He was handed death penalty for four charges – involvement in the
killing of Natun Chandra Singha, Awami League leader Mozaffar Ahmed and
his son; and genocide in Raozan.
The SC upheld his capital punishment in July after hearing his appeal
against the verdict delivered by the International Crimes Tribunal-1.
The International Crimes Tribunal issued death warrant for him on
October 1, a day after the Supreme Court released its full verdict of
the appeal hearing.
Chowdhury, on October 14, filed the review petition to the SC seeking acquittal on all the charges levelled against him.
While turning down his review petition on November 18, the apex court
said the documents submitted by Chowdhury on his study at a Panjab
University in 1971 were not acceptable. There are many anomalies in the
statement of the university certificates given by a professor to
Chowdhury, the court said. MOJAHEED
On June 21, 2012, Mojaheed was indicted for planning to kill
intellectuals just before Bangladesh's liberation on December 16, 1971.
On July 17, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 found Mojaheed
guilty of abducting and killing journalist Serajuddin Hossain. But the
court did not give any separate sentence for this, as the offence was
merged with those of the killings of intellectuals and professionals,
for which the tribunal awarded him the death penalty.
The tribunal had also given Mojaheed death penalty for mass killings
at Bakchar village in Faridpur, but the SC commuted his death sentence
to life term on this charge.
The International Crimes Tribunal issued death warrants for the
Jamaat leader on October 1, a day after the SC released the full
verdicts.
On October 14, Mojaheed moved a petition to review the death penalty.
After hearing, the Supreme Court, on November 18, rejected his plea to review its previous ruling and upheld death penalty.
Despite demands for Western instruments, the shops have ample stock of traditional ones. Photo: Sheikh Mehedi Morshed
Staff Correspondent
Music holds a fascination for the younger generation, and many are
always on the lookout for good musical instruments. The Daily Star
recently spoke to Gopal Ray, who has been working at a musical
instrument shop New Surasree at Mirpur Road for long. He talked about
the market for musical instruments and more. Excerpts: What is the most popular instrument at the moment? Gopal Ray: The Spanish guitar is the most
sought-after musical instrument as youngsters love to play it. Most of
our customers are amateur musicians who scout for all sorts of guitars. What other instruments do you have in your shop? Gopal Ray: We sell all kinds of musical instruments.
We keep everything, starting from guitars to tanpura, trumpets, sitars,
sarod, surmandal and harmoniums. The starting price of guitars is Taka
1800 taka. We also have expensive guitars of renowned brands. Harmoniums
go from Taka 9,000- 60,000, while flutes start from Taka 350.
We also have a large array of folk instruments including ektara, dotara, khamak, mondira, dhol, tabla, banshi and shanai.
Folk instruments are being modernised as they are being used by young
musicians. Instruments like flute, dotara, khamak and mondira are
widely used as well.
However, the shanai is almost on its way out in Bangladesh as there are a handful of shanai players left. How do you collect these instruments? Gopal Ray: We import most of our instruments from
India, Europe and America. And for folk instruments, local guitars,
tabla and harmoniums, we have our own factory in Rishipara, Narayanganj.
Making musical instruments is tough, and requires expertise. What's the present market scenario? Gopal Ray: Despite a downturn in the audio market,
our business is steady. However, we are yet to recover fully from the
losses we suffered during last year's political instability. Once there
used to be concerts in every corner of the city, but the trend has
reversed. Now there are more live shows on television and radio, and a
small number of indoor shows.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) is deployed in Dhaka for 12 hours to maintain security in the capital. Star file photo.
Star Online Report
A total of 35 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh men have been
deployed in Dhaka and Chittagong this evening to maintain security.
The decision came hours after Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan claimed
that war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad
Mojaheed pleaded for presidential clemency. However, family and lawyers
of SQ Chowdhury and Mojaheed were still dubious on whether the mercy
petitions were filed at all, after the law minister’s confirmation.
The home minister told The Daily Star that the petitions, the last
hope for the two top war criminals, reached his desk around 2:30pm.
“Twenty platoons of BGB men will be deployed from 6:30pm across Dhaka
to maintain law and order,” Mohsin Reza, BGB’s public relations office
told The Daily Star when he was contacted following the decision of BGB
deployment.
Meanwhile, Lt Col Emarot Hossain of BGB 28 Battalion confirmed that
15 platoons of BGB have been deployed at Chittagong city, Raujan,
Sitakunda and Lohagara of the district.
The troops will remain deployed in the district until further instructions, the BGB official added.
