Government to bring back Khairuzzaman

Former Bangladesh high commissioner to Malaysia, Mohammed Khairuzzaman, who was arrested by Malaysian police Wednesday morning, will be brought back home and could be investigated for his role in the historic jail killings of 1975.

"Khairuzzaman is at a deportation centre in Malaysia right now. As far as I understand, there is scope to interrogate him again and investigate him," State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said.

The home and law ministries will check whether the jail killing case can be revived and how Khairuzzaman, aged 70, could be investigated, Shahriar told reporters at the foreign ministry yesterday.

Khairuzzaman, who has been living in Malaysia with a refugee status since 2009, was arrested by the country's immigration police at his home in Ampang.

Following his arrest, Malaysian Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin said the arrest was made after a request from Bangladesh.

"If there is a request from the country of [an individual's] origin that we feel has a basis, then we will make [the arrest] and everything is done according to existing legal procedures," he was quoted as saying by Bernama, a state news agency in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's home ministry in a letter to Dhaka said Khairuzzaman was arrested for breaching the immigration law, Shahriar Alam said yesterday. But he could not give any details of the law that has been breached.

He was an army major when Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of Bangladesh government in exile, Tajuddin Ahmed, prime minister, M Mansur Ali, finance minister, and AHM Qamaruzzaman, minister of home affairs, relief and rehabilitation, were assassinated inside Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975.

He was an accused in a case filed in connection with the killings.

After his retirement from the army, Khairuzzaman was placed in the foreign service. He was the ambassador of Bangladesh to the Philippines in 1996 when the Awami League government recalled him.

He came back to Bangladesh and was sent to jail as the trial proceedings of the case went on. In 2004, a lower court acquitted him in the jail killing case.

The High Court and the Appellate Division later upheld the lower court verdict.

In 2007, he became the high commissioner of Bangladesh to Malaysia. The Awami League came to power in 2009 and recalled him. As he did not come back, the government cancelled his Bangladeshi passport.

Bangladesh is also making efforts to bring back the killers of Bangabandhu, State Minister Shahriar said yesterday.

"We knew Khairuzzaman was living in Malaysia. The Western world shelters such accused individuals, but there is no such scope in Malaysia," he said.

Asked if the government has asked Malaysia to return Khairuzzaman in relation to the case of Bangabandhu's assassination, he said he would not comment on it.

"We will follow the same procedure [to bring Khairuzzaman back] that we follow to bring back Bangladeshi expatriates accused of crimes," he said.

Khairuzzaman could have been punished in the jail killing case, but he was acquitted when the BNP came to power, he added. Many others accused in the Bangabandhu and jail killing cases were given government jobs.

After refusing to return home when he was recalled, Khairuzzaman applied for residency under the Malaysia My Second Home programme, sources said.

It is not known whether he could avail the opportunity. This correspondent received the image of a card of the UN Refugee Agency bearing the name and photo of Khairuzzaman. The card is valid until May 22, 2024.

A source in Malaysia said the UNHCR and Malaysian Human Rights Commission approached the Malaysian home ministry, seeking his release.

Besides, Khairuzzaman's lawyer served a legal notice to the Malaysian authorities demanding his immediate release.

Soon after Khairuzzaman got arrested, his lawyer said his client was detained without a valid reason and if he was not released in 24 hours, the lawyer would file a habeas corpus in the court.

Asked how the government would deal with the fact that Khairuzzaman was residing in Malaysia with a card of the UN Refugee Agency, Shahriar said he was not aware of the matter, adding that the government would check the issue.