A former army officer convicted of killing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh’s independence in 1975, has been executed. He was arrested last Tuesday, after being absconding for almost 45 years.
Mahbub-ul Islam, the jailer of Dhaka Central Jail, said that former army captain Abdul Majid was hanged at 12.01 (local time) on Sunday, after his appeal for presidential clemency was rejected, earlier this week.
It is noteworthy that Bangladesh’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the current prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was killed in a coup drive in 1975. Many army officers were involved in this. Abdul Majid fled after the murder. Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzama Khan Kamal told that Majid himself confessed of the murder. He was also involved in the killing of four people in November 1975 in Dhaka Jail.
According to the prosecution lawyer, Majid had been hiding in Kolkata for nearly 23 years during the absconding. He reached Dhaka during 15-16th of last month where he was arrested by the Army Police last Tuesday. On Friday, his wife and four relatives met him for about two and a half hours in jail. A day earlier, Bangladesh’s President Muhammad Abdul Hamid turned down Majid’s mercy petition. The death warrant was issued by Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Helaluddin Chaudhary, on special permission of the Supreme Court during the ongoing lockdown due to the spread of corona virus.
Bangladesh apex court had earlier upheld the verdict in 2009 and five of the killers were executed afterwards.
