A Bangladesh court on Sunday ordered prison authorities to hang an Islamist leader months after he was sentenced to death, raising fears of a new wave of clashes in the unrest-plagued nation.
Abdul Quader Molla, a key leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was given the death penalty in September when the Supreme Court toughened the life sentence originally handed down to him by the International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic war crimes court.
The ICT on Sunday “issued a warrant of execution for Molla”, and sent it to the prison authorities, meaning the 65-year-old could now be executed any day unless he is pardoned by President Abdul Hamid or the case is reviewed by the highest court.
“The prison authorities will now execute him in line with the jail codes,” prosecutor Zead Al Malum said, stressing only a presidential clemency can stop the execution.
Deputy Law Minister Quamrul Islam said Molla could be executed “in the shortest possible time”. He did not give any time frame.
Defence lawyers said Molla’s verdict can still be reviewed by the highest court. But Islam and prosecutors differed.
“It will be an act of murder if he is executed before the case is reviewed by the Supreme Court. It will be violation of the constitution,” defence lawyer Tajul Islam said.
Observers say Molla could be hanged on December 16 to commemorate Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war victory against Pakistan.
Molla was convicted of war crimes during the nine-month liberation war. He and other Jamaat leaders opposed Dhaka’s independence from Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
His execution could trigger a fresh wave of clashes in the country, already reeling from the deadliest political violence since 1971.
At least 150 people have died in clashes with police earlier this year after tens of thousands of Islamists rioted nationwide to protest the death sentences given to Jamaat leaders.
Another 70 people have died in the past six weeks after the main opposition and its Islamist allies including Jamaat launched mass protests to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and make way for polls under a neutral government.
Molla was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder including the killing of over 350 unarmed Bengali civilians. Prosecutors described him as the “Butcher of Mirpur”, a Dhaka suburb where he committed most of the atrocities.
Source: South China Morning Post
West Indies refuse to play in Bangladesh, citing security concerns
December 8, 2013 . http://www.xinhua.com/www.bdchronicle.com. Citing security concerns, the West Indies Under-19 cricket team Sunday declined to play Bangladesh U-19 in Chittagong, 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka. The visitors expressed their reluctance after a bomb blast Saturday night in front of their hotel in the seaport city Chittagong, where the West Indies team has been residing, reports Xinhua.——
AL-HILAL’S COMMENT: Who is going to blame the West Indies players, and the other foreign governments who have cautioned their own citizens visiting Bangladesh when none of the Bangladeshi people is safe inside todays Bangladesh where the population are divided into two distinct warring camps & fighting an undeclared but open civil war that has now spread to almost every village. Hasina is isolated in the Capital. Law & order does not exist. Even the prime minister is not safe at all from an assassin’s bullet despite tight security amidst a civil war where mindless wanton killing taking place almost 24 hours round the clock and people are being burned alive. It would be wrong for Hasina, her ministers and section of her media sycophants to blame the West Indies that “THEY ARE , IN THEIR OWN WAY TRYING TO SAVE THE WAR CRIMINALS AND TARNISHING THE GOOD IMAGE OF HASINA GOVERNMENT WHO HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR BANGLADESH BY JOINING THE OPPOSITION STRIKE, BOYCOTT & BLOCKADE, to quote one Awami Media person, on condition of anonymity.”.
There has always been conspiracy against the believers. Even prophets of Allah have been imprisoned with false charges, injured and even killed. Abdul Kader Mollah will only be killed by this tyrant regime if Allah has decreed on him martyrdom. May the curse of Allah be on Hasina and her accomplices like their predecessors Pharaoh, Hitler, Mujib etc.