22 to walk gallows for killing Ahsanullah
6 get life, family demands quick execution of verdict
Chaitanya Chandra Halder, Shamim Ashraf and Shameem Mahmud
A Dhaka court yesterday handed down death sentences to 22 people and life terms to six others for assassinating Awami League lawmaker Ahsanullah Master in Tongi in May last year, the highest number of capital punishments ever awarded in a single criminal case in Bangladesh.The court also handed down similar punishments to the same convicts for gunning down Omar Faruq Ratan, a young man, in the same incident. The life imprisonment sentences will run concurrently. The court imposed separate death sentences for the murders of Ahsanullah and Ratan. "One of the sentences will be executed subject to the approval of the High Court," the judge said. As many as 17 of those sentenced to death belong to the ruling BNP, three to main opposition Awami League (AL) and two to Jatiya Party. The mastermind of the gruesome killing, BNP's youth wing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal leader Nurul Islam Sarker, who is a brother of Tongi BNP leader Hasan Sarker, is currently behind bars along with 11 others. Sixteen other convicts have been evading arrest, while two others were acquitted. Judge Shahed Noor Uddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 pronounced the verdict in a jam-packed courtroom in the old town courthouse, where authorities braced for unprecedented security yesterday in the wake of hundreds of onlookers. "An ideal teacher, a social worker, respected personality and people's representative has been deprived of driving drug peddlers and criminals out of his constituency… and the nation has been deprived of his welfare services for the people," the judge noted. "Ratan has been deprived of entering college although he had passed the SSC examinations. And the future of some others, including Mahfuzur Rahman Mahal, who has been crippled, has been made uncertain," said the judge. The judge later sentenced to death Nurul Islam Sarker, Nurul Islam Dipu, his brother Shahidul Islam Shipu, Mohammad Ali, Mahbubur Rahman Mahbub, Amir, Syed Ahmed Mojnu, Jahanigr alias Boro Jahangir, Hafiz alias Kana Hafiz, Anwar Hossain alias Anu, Faisal, Jahangir (1), Shohag alias Shoru, Lokman Hossain alias Bulu, Al Amin, Ratan Mia alias Boro Mia, Roni Mia alias Roni Fakir, Ratan alias Chhoto Ratan, Abu Salam alias Salam, Moshiur Rahman alias Moshu, Khokon and Dulal Mia. Those who are to serve life terms are Ohidul Islam Tipu, Monir, Rakibuddin Sarker alias Pappu Sarker, Ayub Ali, Jahangir (2) and Nurul Amin. The court also convicted them to two life terms, to run concurrently. The court acquitted Kabir Hossain, now in custody, and Abu Haider alias Mirpuira Babu, who is absconding. The convicts behind bars are Sarker, Mohammad Ali, Mahbub, Amir, Boro Jahangir, Shohag, Rakib, Ayub, Jahangir (2), Monir, Dulal, and Nurul Amin. Punishment of the fugitives would be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender. The convicts sentenced to death can appeal to the High Court in 30 days. The AL lawmaker was murdered out of political vindication and for establishing supremacy in the locality, the court said in its verdict. It also observed that the prosecution has proved beyond a shadow of doubt the conspiracy, motive and action of the perpetrators of the grisly incident. The judge observed that there was no room for sympathy and kindness for people who shot dead such a popular and respected teacher as Ahsanullah Master and youth Ratan, and crippled others. "Only exemplary punishment can stop and deter such a heinous crime," he noted. Ahsanullah's family said they were happy with the punishment of the convicts, but the convicts and their counsels termed the verdict 'one based on emotion instead of logic' and said they would challenge it in the higher court. Gunmen shot and killed Ahsanullah, also the president of Jatiya Sramik League, and Ratan, and wounded 17 others in a staccato burst of fire at a biennial conference of Awami Shechchhasebak League, the AL's volunteers front, at Noagaon near the legislator's house in Tongi on May 7 last year. The lawmaker and others were about to leave when a group of gunmen led by pro-Jatiya Party Jatiya Chhatra Samaj leader Nurul Islam Dipu started firing from behind the stage on its eastern side. The scene at the trial yesterday was one of high security. Over 500 policemen threw a safety cover around the courthouse in the morning and ran checks on court-goers, observers, political activists and journalists in the court building before letting them in. The courtroom of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 on the fourth floor came under heightened security measures due to hundreds of people who turned out to witness the delivery of the verdict in the sensational killing. AL leaders Motia Chowdhury, Obaidul Kader, Haji Selim, Rahmat Ali, Tongi Municipality Chairman Azmatullah Khan and other party activists also went to the court. AL activists chanted slogans against the killers and held shoes up in the air when the convicts were being taken away in prison vans. Police took the 13 accused in custody to the dock at noon. The judge took his seat and started reading out excerpts of the 61-page judgement at 12:10pm. The judgement came 344 days after the incident. Matiur Rahman, brother of Ahsanullah, filed a murder case with Tongi Police Station on May 8 against 17 people, identifying Nurul Islam Sarker as the mastermind. The CID (Criminal Investigation Department) later completed its investigation in 60 days. Confessing to his involvement in the killing, accused Mahbub said Sarker planned the killing of Jubo League leader Mahfuzur Rahman Mahal after he had 'falsely implicated' Sarker, his brother Rakib and Mohammad Ali during the AL rule. "They wanted to settle an old score with Mahal and had planned to kill him at the Shechchhasebak League conference on the day of the incident," Mahbub told a magistrate. CID Assistant Superintendent Khalequzzaman pressed charges on July 10 last year against Nurul Islam Sarker and 29 others, and identified Nurul as the mastermind of the assassination. Ahsanullah was assassinated because his popularity stood in the way of the local BNP leader's becoming a member of parliament, and because he took a decisive stand against drug-peddlers, including Nurul, the charge-sheet observed. Ahsanullah, who was elected from the Gazipur-2 constituency in 1996 and 2001, was set to stand for the forthcoming parliament elections from the same seat. "For his popularity, Ahsanullah was the main target of the BNP and was killed according to directions from the BNP high-ups," the plaintiff said in the FIR (first information report). Special Public Prosecutor (PP) Abdul Latif Talukder and advocates M Shajoar Hossain, Sahara Khatun, Mohammad Ali, Abdur Rahman Hawlader and Momtazuddin Mehedi moved in the court for the state. Advocates Nazrul Islam, ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukul, Sanaullah Mia, Kalimullah Mazumder, M Shahjahan and Emdadul Haq Lal appeared for the accused. 'VERDICT BASED ON EMOTION' Defence lawyers said the court handed down death sentences even though the charges were not proved through firsthand evidence. "No witness said before the court that Nurul Islam Sarker plotted the conspiracy, the court gave him the punishment out of emotion," Sanaullah told The Daily Star. "The allegations and the evidence are weak and cannot prove beyond doubt the involvement of the accused in the murders," Kalimullah said. "The court cannot just hand down such capital punishments in such a manner. We'll go to the higher court and hope we will get justice there and the accused will be acquitted." Sarker, the mastermind, told The Daily Star, "I've been falsely implicated, the prosecution failed to produce any evidence against me." Special PP Abdul Latif Talukder, however, said firsthand witnesses proved the involvement of the convicts while the confessional statement of Mahbub corroborated it. "People who witnessed the accused firing in broad daylight disclosed their identities and Mahbub revealed the conspiracy was plotted at a house at Morkun in Tongi," he said. QUICK EXECUTION Ahsanullah's family expressed satisfaction at the verdict and demanded its quick execution. "We will never get back our father. But this verdict is a great consolation for us," said Jahid Ahsan Russell MP, Ahsanullah's eldest son. "We will be truly happy when the judgement is executed," he said at a press briefing after the judgement. Plaintiff Matiur Rahman said: "I hope the High Court will uphold the judgement and the killers will get exemplary punishment." "The judgement reflects the rule of law -- all the people behind the gruesome murder have been punished," IO Khalequzzaman told The Daily Star. "This verdict will provide consolation to the victims' families and act as a deterrent to such crimes," he said.
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