Sick-brain behind intellectuals' killing
His ruthless militia systematically rounded up, tortured and killed the nation's brightest luminaries one by one towards the end of the Liberation War.
With Pakistan facing an imminent defeat, he aimed to rob the soon-to-be-free Bangladesh of its finest minds and a bright future.
The man was none but Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, 67, the chief of infamous AL-Badr Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan occupation army.
He let loose his notorious killing squad to massacre hundreds of pro-liberation Bangalee academics, litterateurs, journalists, doctors and artists. So brutal were the killings that many of the bodies were found mutilated beyond recognition at different killing fields.
Al-Badr Bahini, comprised of leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami's then student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, also dumped scores of bodies in unknown locations.
The cold-blooded savagery left a deep scar on the newborn country, which is struggling to recover from the loss even 44 years after its independence.
Much to the disappointment of the victims' families and relatives, Mojaheed had eluded justice for more than four decades.
Not only that, he re-emerged on Bangladesh's political scene after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
He gained immense political clout and went on to become a minister during the 2001-2006 tenure of the BNP-led four-party government.
But finally, the Jamaat secretary general paid for his crimes against humanity as he walked the gallows early today, three days after the Supreme Court dismissed his petition for reviewing the death penalty handed down by a special tribunal in 2013.
He was the first war crimes convict to have been executed for the killing of intellectuals in 1971.
In its order on Mojaheed's review petition, the apex court said, "... We held that petitioner's [Mojaheed's] ruthless Badr Bahini being instigated, suggested, provoked and incited by the petitioner had kidnapped and killed the intellectuals which was cold blooded savagery.
"Such barbaric gruesome brutal crimes which are comparable with the Hitler's Gas Chamber Genocide or Jalilianbag massacre.
"The barbaric gruesome and heinous crimes which under the petitioner's leadership his Badr Bahini committed is a revolt against the humanity," it said.
Mojaheed, who was from Faridpur, was president of Dhaka city Chhatra Sangha from January to July, and then became general secretary of the organisation's East Pakistan unit. He was made its president in October 1971.
Islami Chhatra Sangha was turned into Al-Badr Bahini in 1971, and Mojaheed, being the top leader of Chhatra Sangha, became the chief of the ruthless militia, show war crimes documents.
During the nine-month war, Mojaheed visited many districts and held meetings with his followers, encouraging them to kill freedom fighters and pro-liberation people.
"Al-Badr is a name! A wonder! Al-Badr is a commitment! Where there is a so-called freedom fighter, there is Al-Badr. Where there is a miscreant, there is Al-Badr. For the 'Indian agents' or the 'miscreants', Al-Badr is the Azrail [angel of death] incarnate,” he said at a meeting with leaders and activists of Jamaat and Chhatra Sangha in Mymensingh on April 22, 1971.
Jamaat's mouthpiece Daily Sangram ran a report two days later, quoting from his speech.
Mojaheed did not limit himself to giving such speeches only. He along with his associates and Pakistan army officials devised an evil plan to eliminate the intelligentsia of the soon-to-be-born Bangladesh.
Sensing an imminent defeat, Al-Badr picked up intellectuals and professionals from their houses and took them to the Al-Badr headquarters at Mohammadpur Physical Training Centre mostly from December 10 to 15 in 1971.
Mojaheed used to visit the camp regularly, according to witnesses.
The victims, who were among the best minds of the nation, had to endure brutal torture before being killed. Their bodies were dumped in different killing fields in Rayerbazar and Mirpur.
The martyred intellectuals include Dhaka University teachers Prof Mofazzal Haider Choudhury, Prof Munier Chowdhury, Prof Giasuddin Ahmed, Prof Anwar Pasha, and Prof Santosh Chandra Bhattacharyya; journalists Serajuddin Hossain, Syed Najmul Haque, ANM Golam Mostafa, Nizam Uddin Ahmed, Selina Pervin, Shahidullah Kaiser, and physicians Fazle Rabbee and Alim Chaudhury.
The bodies of scores of victims were recovered from the killing fields while those of many others could not be traced.
Just two hours before Pakistan army's surrender on December 16, Mojaheed gave a speech at the Al-Badr headquarters, terming the day painful and the surrender a tragedy.
He urged Al-Badr members to spread out without being "ashamed" of their deeds, according to a book titled “Al-Badr” by Selim Mansur Khalid. The prosecution used this book as evidence.
Every year, the nation observes December 14 as Martyred Intellectual Day with the victims' family members and relatives voicing demand for trial and punishment for the perpetrators.
In its order, the apex court touched on the long, agonising wait of the bereaved family members for justice.
"While awarding the sentence, the court must take into consideration the unbearable pains, tears rolling down the cheeks and sufferings of the widows and children of the victims who cried for getting justice for about 43 years," it said.
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