Security tightened as Dhaka awaits Mujib murder verdict

DHAKA - The Bangladesh government has beefed up security and asked cadres of ruling Awami League not to organise processions as the country awaits the verdict Thursday in the trial of founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s killers.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to give its ruling Thursday on the appeals filed by five former army officers who were awarded death sentence.

Special security forces are deployed around the Dhaka Central Jail where all the five condemned prisoners are kept.

Sheikh Mujib, officially addressed with the honorific Bangabandhu, led the movement that culminated in Bangladesh’s independence following separation from Pakistan in 1971.

His killing, and that of a score of his family members and political associates in a military-led coup Aug 15, 1975, is an emotive issue in Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the slain leader’s elder daughter and one of the only two survivors of the large family, is abroad attending a food security conference.

Before leaving, she called for a ‘vigil’ by all, alleging that violence could be provoked by “vested quarters”.

She did not specify but her general refrain could be against Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by her rival Khaleda Zia and her Islamist allies.

“Remain watchful so that no untoward incident takes place in your constituencies,” State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam told the ruling Awami League lawmakers, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

“The police and other law enforcement agencies will follow special strategy so that no evil force can carry out any act of sabotage over the announcement of the verdict,” Home Minister Sahara Khatun said.

The killers were a group of young army officers, who went on to murder not just the charismatic president, but also his wife, three sons, two daughters-in-law and about 20 other relatives and aides.

They escaped from the country in November 1975 and subsequent governments of military strongmen, Generals Ziaur Rahman and and H.M. Ershad, gave some of them diplomatic postings.

The trial of the killers began two decades after the incident and a high court bench gave its verdict when Hasina was in power during 1996-2001.

The case dragged on and many judges “excused themselves” during the next eight years. The re-trial began this year after Hasina’s return to power.

Five of the accused - Lieutenant Colonels Syed Farook Rahman, Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, A.K.M. Mohiuddin and Major Bazlul Huda - are in prison in Dhaka. Six others are on the run abroad. The Hasina government is trying to secure their return.

The five had been sentenced to death by the High Court which upheld a trial court ruling. They approached the apex court in appeal.

The six fugitives, believed to be in Saudi Arabia, Libya and other countries, include Major Shariful Haq Dalim who had announced the coup and the murders on the radio.

One of the alleged killers died in Zimbabwe two years ago.