Bangabandhu's killer Mazed hanged

The government has executed the death penalty of Abdul Mazed, one of the convicts in the killings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of the family.

The authorities executed him at the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj at 12:01am on Sunday, four and a half decades after the massacre that took place on 15th August, 1975, bdnews24.com says quoting an official.

According to a UNB report, Inspector General (Prisons) Brigadier General AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha and civil surgeon and district magistrate of Dhaka were present during the execution.

Jail sources said the body will be sent to his village home in Bhola for burial.  

Earlier on Friday evening, family members met Mazed at the jail for the last time.

Five members, including the death-row convict’s wife Saleha Begum and four other relatives, went to the jail in the evening on the day and spent around 25 minutes with him.

On Saturday night, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General AKM Mostafa Kamal Pasha informed about their preparation to execute the death penalty.

President Abdul Hamid on Wednesday rejected the former army captain's mercy petition, clearing ways for his execution hours after Mazed sought clemency as the last ditch effort to save his neck.

Dhaka’s District and Sessions Judge’s Court earlier on that day issued his death warrant as Mazed was produced on the dock when Judge Helaluddin Choudhuy also read out the charges and original judgment in line with legal procedures.

Court officials and police said, ahead of issuing the death warrant the judge also talked to the convict to confirm his identity.

The same court with Golam Rasul being the judge issued the original judgment in 1998 which was validated later by the High Court and eventually by Supreme Court’s appellate division.

Minister Kamal earlier said the “self confessed killer” was not only involved in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but also took part in the subsequent murders of four national leaders in high security Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975.

Mazed was on the run for nearly two and half decades to evade justice and after his arrest he said he was hiding in India’s West Bengal for the past 23 years and returned to Bangladesh last month.

He was handed down the death penalty along with 12 other ex-military officers 1998 while the verdict was subsequently upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court’s apex Appellate Division.

In a dramatic event a specialised police unit last week arrested Mazed from near a shrine in the capital, after his return home for unknown reasons.

Mazed is one of the six absconding sacked army officers who were handed down capital punishment after trial in absentia.

Twelve sacked military officers were sentenced to death for the August 15, 1975 carnage and five of them were executed by now while one died a natural death as he was on the run abroad.