Bangladeshi Jamaat leader to be hanged after midnight

Crescent International

Safar 07, 1435 2013-12-10

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

There appears no limit to the hatred of Bangaldeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajed. She insists on seeking revenge from her political opponents that had opposed her father's quest to break Pakistan with Indian military help to create Bangladesh. Her government has announced it will hang Abdul Qauder Molla, a leader of the Jamaat-e Islami after midnight today. Observers believe it will lead to more chaos in the country.

Dhaka, Crescent-online
December 10, 2013, 12:33 EST

Updated: 15:07 EST

According to latest news received from Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, a judge of the Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Abdul Qauder Molla until 10:30 am tomorrow (Wednesday). This does not mean that his life will be spared but this provides a few hours to see whether a legal avenue is available to stop the execution.

The story below was uploaded at 12:33 EST (Toronto time)

Any time now, a leading figure of the Jamaat-e Islami in Bangladesh, Abdul Quadar Molla will be hanged in Dhaka. He was accused of murder and rape during the 1971 Indian invasion of then East Pakistan, leading to the break-up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. The Jamaat-e Islami had resisted the Indian invasion and break-up of Pakistan.

Initially sentenced to life imprisonment in February by a domestically established International Crimes Tribunal, the Bangladesh Supreme Court then increased his sentence to death in September.

Human rights organizations had condemned the International Crimes Tribunal’s procedures as grossly flawed and questioned even the life sentence handed down to Molla. In what must be a rare case, the Supreme Court proceeded to turn it into a death sentence through a retroactive act of the government.

“He will be executed after 12.01pm tonight (local time, that is 1300 EST Toronto) as all legal processes have been exhausted,” Bangladesh's deputy law minister Quamrul Islam told the media.

“In the presence of two magistrates he was asked whether he would seek pardon from the president and he said 'no'.”

The Dhaka prison authorities confirmed all preparations had been made to carry out the execution and Molla's family was asked to meet the 65-year-old leader of the Jamaat-e Islami for the last time.

On Sunday, a tribunal signed an execution order for Molla, and sent it to the main jail in Dhaka setting in motion the process for execution.

Molla’s execution, unless granted last minute reprieve by the Bangladesh president (highly unlikely), would be little short of a judicial murder. It has nothing to do with the allegations levelled against him. The fact is that the current prime minister, Hasina Wajed is on a revenge binge.

Her father, Shaikh Mujibur Rahman was murdered by Bangladeshi army officers on August 15, 1975. He had become a dictator and considered Bangladesh a family fiefdom. Most of his family members except Wajed who was in India at the time, were killed with him.

She is also locked in a deadly struggle with her main opponent, Begum Khaleda Zia widow of another former President Ziaur Rahman, murdered by fellow officers. Since January, nearly 250 civilians, mostly opposition supporters have been killed. Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) allied with the Jamaat-e Islami has called for boycott of the January 5, 2014 polls.

She has demanded that a caretaker government should conduct the elections since there is fear of massive rigging, a not unreasonable concern.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have warned that by executing Molla without giving him the opportunity to appeal for a review, the country could be breaking international law.

If Molla is executed—as is expected—there may be more violence in the already violence-wracked country.

The hatred shown by Hasina Wajed toward opponents, real and imagined, knows no bounds.

END