The Bangladeshi authorities announced yesterday, Saturday, that the death sentence was carried out by hanging today, Sunday, in a former officer convicted of assassinating the founder of the state, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1975, days after his arrest after a 25-year chase.
Justice Minister Anis Al-Haq announced to the French press that the prison administration carried out the death sentence against the murderer on Saturday night, Sunday, after the request for a presidential pardon was rejected.
For his part, the chief inspector of prisons, Mustafa Kamal Pasha, said in a statement that the death sentence was carried out against the former army captain, Abdul Majeed, after his arrest on April 7 in the capital Dhaka.
Pasha added that the execution was carried out by hanging in the Kiranegany district prison on Sunday at 00:01 local time (Saturday 18:01 GMT).
He explained that the perpetrator's wife and family visited him in prison before he was executed.
Mujibur Rahman (the father of the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid who had led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan) was in power when he was assassinated with the bulk of his family on 15 August 1975.
(Reuters) Hasina Wajid, daughter of the founder Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan
Judgments, absconding,
and the local judiciary ruling in 1998 to execute about ten officers in the context of this massacre, including Captain Abdul Majid in absentia.
The Supreme Court confirmed the ruling in 2009, and five convicts were executed months later.
Abdul Majeed fled to India in 1996 and returned to Bangladesh last month, according to police.
He was arrested by anti-terror police on Tuesday morning in Dhaka.
This year, Bangladesh commemorates the 100th anniversary of Mujibur Rahman's birth, but activities in this context have been curtailed due to the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Sheikha Hasina survived the massacre in 1975 because she was with her sister in Europe at the time.
In a video recording, the Minister of Interior this week saw the arrest of Abdel Majid as "the most beautiful gift for the Centennial Year", Mujeeb Al-Rahman.
It took a long time to deal with the assassination of Mujibur Rahman by the judiciary, and this case continues to poison the political life in Bangladesh.