5 fugitive killers of Bangabandhu: Little progress in bringing them back

None of the five convicted fugitive killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who have been hiding abroad, could be brought back home despite the government's persistent efforts. The trial against the convicts ended 13 years ago.

The five fugitives are Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Nur Chowdhury, Rashed Chowdhury and Moslehuddin Khan. 

Only two of them -- Nur Chowdhury and Rashed Chowdhury -- could be traced back to Canada and the USA. The government has yet to find out the whereabouts of the other three despite a series of efforts made through diplomatic channels, intelligence and Interpol.

The government has failed to constitute a commission to find out the conspirators behind the killing of Bangabandhu and his family members on August 15, 1975, although it announced the plan to form one a few years ago.

However, the Sheikh Hasina-led government has moved another step towards ensuring justice by executing convict Abdul Majed.

Abdul Majed, who had long been hiding abroad, was hanged on April 12, 2020, while five other convicts -- Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed -- were executed on January 28, 2010. Another convict Aziz Pasha died in Zimbabwe in 2001.

Amid these developments, today the nation will observe National Mourning Day and pay tribute to Bangabandhu and his family members, brutally murdered on this day in 1975.

Law Minister Anisul Huq told this correspondent that the Hasina-led government has been engaged with the governments of the US and Canada to bring convicts Rashed Chowdhury and Nur Chowdhury back to the country.

"I hope that the US government will send Rashed Chowdhury back to Bangladesh like the country had returned Maj (retd) Mohiuddin -- another convict of the assassination of the Father of the Nation -- in 2007," he said.

"A dialogue is ongoing with the Canadian government to bring back Nur Chowdhury to Bangladesh, even though the Canadian government does not approve of returning criminals accused to a country where they have been sentenced to death," he added.

The minister, who was the principal state counsel of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, declined to make any comment about the progress of finding out three other fugitive killers.

He said his ministry has finalised a draft outline for the formation of the commission including its jurisdiction and terms of reference for finding out the conspirators behind the assassination of Bangabandhu and his family members.

"We will place the draft outline before the prime minister for her opinion on this issue in the coming months," he added.

This correspondent could not reach Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen in this regard despite repeated attempts.

On November 19, 2009, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the High Court verdict, confirming the death sentence for the 12 killers of Bangabandhu and his family members.

In the verdict, the apex court observed that the killers not only killed the sitting President of the country (Bangabandhu) but also killed his entire family.

"The accused persons by their barbarous act proved that the object of the conspiracy was not to oust the President from power, but their object was to eliminate the entire family and it was an act of exceptional depravity on the part of the accused persons, an unparallel act in the annals of crime committed in the country," the Appellate Division observed.

The top court also observed that "The accused persons brutally killed a leader who is none but the father of the nation. They even did not spare the President's son, a child who was below 10 years old. They killed him in a brutal manner, leaving the nation shocked and dumbfounded."

"There was no explanation why they killed the three women. They committed a crime against humanity by killing a child and three innocent, unarmed women...They eliminated almost the entire family found in the house. There is no explanation on the side of the accused as to why they killed the innocent," added the observation.