A serious confusion has arisen over the mercy pleas of death sentenced Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
Concern officials of the Government said, the two convicts have applied for Presidential clemency on Saturday afternoon although family members and defense lawyers of both Mojaheed and SQ Chowdhury termed the announcement of the authority as bogus and a historic drama.
“The government is playing a game, it is a drama, I don’t believe it. We have come here to meet my father and to clear the confusion, but the Jail authority did not allow us to meet him,” Hummam Quader Chowdhury, younger son of SQ Chowdhury told the media.
“If the government is transparent, why are we not allowed to meet our father?” He questioned.
Farhat Quader Chowdhury, wife of Salauddin
Quader Chowdhury, tells reporters that her husband will convey his decision on seeking Presidential clemency after talks with his lawyers.
Farhat came up with the remark in a press briefing just after BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, said that Salauddin Quader Chowdhury would not seek Presidential mercy.
Expressing doubt about the mercy petition, Ali Ahmed Mabrur, son of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, also said that his father never expressed his desire to apply for Presidential clemency to none of his family members.
“My father (Mojaheed) cannot take decision of placing mercy plea to the President without consultation with us and our lawyers. The news which is being circulated in the media quoting the Jail authorities is wholly bogus,” Mabrur told journalists on Saturday afternoon.
Replying to a query, Mabrur in a press brief on Saturday said that his father is “innocent, innocent and innocent (in case of crimes against humanity).”
“Bogus, we don’t believe. Do you believe it?” Mabrur asked the journalists.
However, Chief defense lawyers of both the convicts, advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, the government is making a drama to let people believe that the convicts confessed their crimes.
“The convicts several times said that they would take decision after consulting with their family members and the lawyers. But the Jail authority has not allowed the lawyers and the family members to meet them. This proves that there is something wrong,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Saturday protested the media reports that Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed sought Presidential clemency.
“It has been reported in various news media, quoting prison authorities that Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed has applied for clemency to the President, but the circulated news item is totally untrue and confusing,” Jamaat said in a statement. Jamaat’s Acting Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman ruled out the possibility of filing mercy petition, referring to Mojaheed’s meeting with the family members who also held a press briefing on the day in this regard.
“When his family members met him, he wanted to discuss the matter with his lawyers. But he did not say anything about clemency,” the Jamaat leader pointed out.
The Jamaat statement signed by M Alam of the party’s publicity wing called upon the Prison authorities to give a clear statement about his appeal in order to get rid of confusions.
