Dhaka – Condemned Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Mollah, was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail at 10:01 pm Thursday.
“Quader Mollah has been hanged at 10:01 pm,” IGP Prisons Main Uddin Khandaker told journalists after the execution.State Minister for Home Affirs Shamsul Hoque Tuku told UNB that Mollah’s body will be handed over to his family members for burial at his village home in Faridpur district.
Prisoner Shahjahan, serving a 60-year jail term, was the hangman. He was assisted by other prisoners Sheikh Quamruzzaman, Kalu Miah, Bablu Miah, Faruk and Jony.
Quader Mollah was hanged in presence of Dhaka district magistrate Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Harun, Civil Surgeon Abdul Malek Mridha and Imam Abdul Hai amid tight security in and around the jail, said a prison official.
Mollah’s execution came after two days of speculations, and international pressure. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday night stayed the operation of the execution order of Abdul Quader Mollah until 10:30am Wednesday.
The stay order came barely one and half hours of his planned execution on Tuesday night. Mollah was supposed to be hanged at 12.01 am on Wednesday.
This is the first-ever execution in compliance with the Supreme Court verdict against a 1971 war crimes convict, an election pledge of the ruling Awami League.
Quader Mollah was hanged in presence of the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Dhaka, and civil surgeon and magistrate amid tight security in and around the jail, said a prison official.
After receiving the latest SC order throwing out Mollah’s sentence–review plea, the Home Ministry earlier in the day directed the prisons authority to take steps for hanging the Jamaat leader by neck till his death as ordered by the apex court.
Upon the government’s appeal seeking death sentence for him, the Appellate Division on September 17 sentenced Quader Mollah to death, overruling the February 5 judgment of International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had awarded him life term imprisonment for war crimes committed in 1971.
The 65-year-old Jamaat leader was adjudged guilty of the crimes against humanity, including murders of pro-liberation civilian Pallab, an inhabitant of Nawabpur in old Dhaka city, poet Meherrunnesa and her family, journalist Khandker Abu Taleb of the daily Ittefaq, and mass killings at Alubdi, and killing of Hazrat Ali, then Awami League leader, along with his wife, two minor daughters and an infant son, followed by rape.
Family members of war crimes convict Abdul Quader Molla are in Dhaka Central Jail to meet him.
10 people in a white microbus arrived there at 6:15pm on Thursday.
They included Molla’s son Hasan Jamil, two children, five women and an unknown youth.
Earlier, Jamil had told journalists that they had pleaded for meeting Molla. “We are leaving for the jail. Will meet my father for the last time if the prison authorities approve.”
Earlier on the day Appellate Division of the Supreme Court turned down the admissibility of the sentence-review plea filed by condemned Abdul Quader Mollah, known as ‘Kashai (butcher) Quader’ in 1971 Liberation War, now assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami. “The two applications are dismissed,” Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, who headed the five-member bench, pronounced the order in a crowded courtroom at 12:05 pm amid tight security in and around the Supreme Court. The grounds for dismissing Mollah’s twin pleas were not made available immediately. The Appellate Division disposed of the matter after hearing both the sides for two consecutive days. Following the apex court order, the stay on execution stands vacated, said Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, the chief government law officer, at a press briefing. “Now there is no bar to carry out the execution order,” he added. Meanwhile, Barrister Abdur Razzaq, the counsel for Mollah, claimed that his client’s execution will not be carried out until the copy of the judgment is received. Responding to a petition on Tuesday night at his Kakrail residence, SC chamber Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain stayed for 12 hours Mollah’s execution as condemned war crimes convict preferred hearing on admissibility of his sentence-review plea. Later, the stay remained in force till disposal of the matters pending with the Appellate Division. Following the government’s appeal seeking death sentence for him, the Appellate Division on September 17 sentenced Quader Mollah to death, overruling the February 5 judgment of International Crimes Tribunal-2 that had awarded him life term imprisonment for war crimes committed in 1971. The 65-year-old Jamaat leader was found guilty of the crimes against humanity, including murders of pro-liberation civilian Pallab, an inhabitant of Nawabpur in old Dhaka city, poet Meherrunnesa and her family, journalist Khandker Abu Taleb of the daily Ittefaq, and mass killings at Alubdi, and killing of Hazrat Ali, then Awami League leader, along with his wife, two minor daughters and an infant son, followed by rape.
Ganajagaran Manch activists brought out a jubilant procession in the capital on Thursday after the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court rejected the defence petition for reviewing the death sentence of war crimes convict Abdul Quader Mollah. The Shahbagh youths, led by its spokesperson Imran H Sarkar, took out the procession from Shahbagh Chattar around 1:45 pm and it ended at the starting point after parading Ruposhi Bangla Hotel crossing and Raju Sculpture at TSC of Dhaka University. People from all walks of life took part at the procession. Expressing pleasure over the rejection of the defence petition, Imran said the nation finally has got justice. “People of Bangladesh are now satisfied.” On Tuesday night, Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain stayed the execution order of Quader Mollah until 10:30am Wednesday. Later, the Appellate Division vacated the stay order and rejected the defence pleas to file a review petition on Thursday. – UNB
