A former Bangladeshi military captain, who was convicted for killing the country's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was arrested by the police in Dhaka on 7 April.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal confirmed ex-captain Abdul Majed's arrest and said he had been sent to court to “exhaust legal options”.
Majed was one of the six absconding ex-Army officers who were handed down capital punishment after their trial in absentia.
The minister said Majed, a self-confessed killer, was not only involved in Reahman's killing on 15 August 1975 at his private Dhanmandi residence but was also involved in the subsequent murder of four national leaders in high security Dhaka Central Jail on November 3 in 1975.
Majed's predawn arrest was led by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the police in Mirpur based on a tip-off. “Majed was near a shrine in Mirpur when policemen arrested him,” an official said.
“Majed was brought to the court at around 12.15 pm. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate AM Zulfikar Hayat passed his order at 12.55 pm asking the police to send him to jail,” a police officer said.
Legal experts said a report on his arrest would now be sent to the Dhaka District Judge's Court, which originally tried the killers of Bangabandhu.
“The stipulated time for appeal against death penalty expired long ago. Majed now can just seek Presidential mercy unless the Supreme Court decides to consider any plea on his part,” a Supreme Court lawyer said.
Twelve ex-military officers were sentenced to death for the 15 August 1975 killing of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members and five of them were executed in 2010 while one died of natural causes.
The hanged lieutenant colonels were Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Mohiuddin Ahmed and sacked Major Bazlul Huda, while sacked Colonel Rashed Pasha died of natural causes in Zimbabwe while on the run.
Farooq Rahman, Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed of the Artillery faced trial in the judge's court in person. Huda was extradited from Thailand and Lancer Mohiuddin was sent back from the United States after the then district judge Golam Rasul delivered the judgment.
After the August 15, 1975 carnage, Majed was rehabilitated in civil service during the subsequent regime of former military dictator-turned politician Ziaur Rahman as an ex-cadre official and posted as the director of National Savings Department.
He fled the country while serving later in the finance ministry along with most of the other 1975 coup plotters as the 1996 general elections brought Awami League back to power which vowed bring justice to the killers of Bangabandhu.
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