Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - Trial

Trial

The military decided not to court-martial the military officials who masterminded and participated in the coup. No case was registered with the police, by relatives of Mujib or his party men, either. In fact, the conspirators could not be tried in court of law on the charge of assassination because of the Indemnity Act passed by the government under President Khondaker Mustaq Ahmed. However, when Awami League, led by Mujib's daughter, Sheikh Hasina, won the election in 1996, it repealed the Act. The Bangabandhu murder trial commenced. Col. (Rtd.) Syed Faruque Rahman was arrested from his Dhaka Old DOHS home. Col. (Rtd.) Bazlul Huda was brought back from Bangkok, where he was serving sentence for shop lifting, as part of criminal exchange program between Thailand and Bangladesh. Lt. Col. Mohiuddin Ahmed was active in military service when he was arrested. Col. (Rtd.) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan was on active diplomatic service, appointed by previous Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia, and returned to Bangladesh when he had been called back by foreign ministry. Later he was arrested. Col. (Rtd.) Abdur Rashid and other accused, however, left Bangladesh as 1996 general election showed an upcoming Awami League victory. Colonel (Rtd.) Rashid is now reportedly shuttling between Pakistan and Libya. One accused, Major (Rtd.) Aziz Pasha, reportedly died in Zimbabwe before the commencement of trial. All these men were also involved in jail killing in November 1975.

The trial ended on November 8, 1998, and death sentences in firing squad was given, by the District and Session Judge of Dhaka Mohammad Golam Rasul, to 15 out of 20 accused of the assassination; however, Taheruddin Thakur, former Information Minister and one of the prime conspirator, was exonerated. He later died naturally in 2005. However, the sentences were yet to be carried out as five of the convicts sought permission to file appeals in the high court. High court bench comprising Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin (Chief Justice of Bangladesh from 2007 to 2008) and Justice A B M Khairul Haque (current Chief Justice of Bangladesh) gave divisive verdict. Senior Justice Amin acquitted 5 out of original 15 accused, but junior Justice Haque upheld the lower court verdict. So another verdict from a third judge became essential. Later, as a third judge Justice Mohammad fazlul Karim (immediate past Chief Justice of Bangladesh) accused 12 out of original 15 including 2 acquitted in Justice Amin's verdict. As 5 accused again appealed to Appellate Division, decision remained pending due to a shortage of minimum requirement of three judges for a hearing session since August 2001, as several of judges embarrassed to hear the case. On June 18, 2007, one of the conspirators who had been sentenced to death, Major (Rtd.) A K M Mohiuddin Ahmed, was extradited to Bangladesh from the United States, following a series of failed attempts to gain asylum or permanent residency in the United States. On August 7, 2007, the murder case hearings resumed after six years.

The appellate division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh gave its verdict on November 19, 2009, after a five member special bench, headed by Justice Mahammad Tafazzal Islam, (later Chief Justice of Bangladesh in 2009) spent 29 days hearing the petition filed by the death row convicts.

The appeal of the convicts was rejected and the death sentence was upheld. Before the verdict, approximately 12,000 extra policemen were deployed to guard strategic buildings, including the Supreme Court, to prevent any attempt to disrupt the proceedings by the convicted men's supporters. The men's supporters have been blamed by the government for a grenade attack on one of the prosecution lawyers in October 2009, although no one has been charged yet.

Captain (Rtd.) Qismet Hashem, Captain (Rtd.) Nazmul Hossain Aanssar and Major (Rtd.) Abdul Majid were acquitted throughout the high court division and appellate division verdicts and are, now, living in Canada.

Conspirators Major (Rtd.) Bazlul Huda, Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd.) Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major (Rtd.) A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Colonel (Rtd.) Syed Faruque Rahman and Colonel (Rtd.) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan were executed on 28 January 2010.