Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government on Sunday rejected outright the executed war criminals families’ claims about presidential clemency, making it clear that both Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury had sought presidential mercy.
The convicts’ family members and Jamaat-e-Islami on Saturday expressed doubts when the jail authorities told the media that Mojaheed and Salauddin had appealed for the presidential mercy.
“The convicts put their signatures on the mercy petitions. I gave my opinion on it before forwarding it to the President,” Law Minister Anisul Huq told The New Nation on Sunday.
He added, the petitions were forwarded to the President through the Prime Minister following law and then the President rejected their pleas.
The constitution, in the Article 49 titled ‘Prerogative of mercy’, says: “The President shall have power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority.”Rejecting their families’ claims, the Law Minister said, “They have contradicted it on Saturday only to make the issue controversial at home and abroad. They engaged in such a concerted effort to make happy the patrons who wanted to halt the executions. “The war crimes convicts Mojaheed and Salauddin were executed following relevant rules and procedures,” he added. When asked, he said, the government did not face any foreign pressure over the executions of their death sentences.
“We have evidences and papers that the executed war criminals Mojaheed and Salauddin had sought mercy from the President,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told journalists at his office on Sunday. He added there is no scope to create confusion among the people over the presidential clemency sought by the two top war criminals.
The Home Minister came up with the remarks as the families of Mojaheed and SQ Chowdhury on Saturday contradicted with the government’s versions regarding presidential clemency. Echoing the Law Minister, Kamal said, Mojaheed and SQ Chowdhury appealed to the President under Article 49 to save their lives. Responding to a question, the Home Minister said, “Their family members did not see the applications. But we have all the documents.”
He further said that only the application demanded the official procedures to complete the execution and the government went through the legal process. “The Constitution’s Article 49 states the president’s authority to deal any mercy plea of convict. SQ Chowdhury and Mojaheed sought mercy from the president as per the article and the Law Ministry sent the appeals to the President through Prime Minister for the next course of action,” said Kamal. “Later, the Honourable President dismissed their pleas and we have finally executed the Supreme Court’s verdict,” he noted. The Home Minister also said that we have their applications in written and so, there is no scope to create controversy on the issue. BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on Saturday night after completion of legal process. Both the war criminals were executed at 12:55am for committing crimes against humanity during the country’s Liberation War in 1971 amid beefed up security measures in and around the Dhaka Central Jail. “They were hanged together at 12:55am at Dhaka Central Jail,” Senior Jail Superintendent Mohammad Jahangir Kabir told reporters while making an official announcement over the executions of the two top war criminals. The executions followed the rejection of mercy petitions of Salauddin and Mojaheed by President Abdul Hamid. The two death row convicts have sought presidential clemency on Saturday as the last resort to save their lives. As per their families’ wish, they were buried at their ancestral homes in Raozan of Chittagong and in Faridpur town on Sunday. With Salauddin and Mojaheed’s execution, the government has hanged four war crimes convicts so far since it initiated the war crimes trial. The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalties for Salauddin and Mojaheed handed down by the International Crimes Tribunals (ICT) to them for their crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, rejecting their final review petitions.
The war criminals Salauddin and Mujahid on October 14 filed the review petitions to the SC, seeking acquittal on all the charges against them. On October 1, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) sentenced Salauddin Quader to death for his crimes against humanity. He lodged appeal against his sentence on October 29, 2013 and the Appellate Division in its verdict on July 29, 2015, upheld the death sentence for him.
Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) on July 17, 2013 sentenced Mojaheed to death for committing crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation. The Jamaat leader filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on August 12, 2013.
On June 16, 2015, the Appellate Division delivered its judgement, upholding death for the Jamaat secretary general. The Apex Court on September 30 released the full verdict and on October 1 the ICT issued death warrant against the Jamaat leader.
International Crimes Tribunals found Salauddin, 66, and Mojaheed, 67, guilty for carrying out war crimes, including killing more than 200 civilians, mostly minority Hindus and of intellectuals, including teachers and journalists during the independence war and days before the country’s independence.
