Bangabandhu's killer Mazed seeks presidential pardon

NEWS DESK 

Captain (retd) Abdul Mazed, one of the condemned convicts in the murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has sought clemency to the President Abdul Hamid.

His death warrant reached to Dhaka Central Jail in the afternoon, hours after a Dhaka court today issued it.

Later, jail authorities read it out to him and asked whether he will seek pardon to the president, and he agreed, a high official of the central jail said.

Later jail authorities processed it according to the rules, the official added.

Confirming the matter to media, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, "We will scrutinize the plea now and will decide next course of actions."

Earlier in the day, Judge Md Helal Chowdhury of District and Sessions Judge's Court issued the death warrant upon a petition by the state.

He read out to Mazed the charges against him and the verdict of the case. 

The execution will take place between 21 and 28 days since the issuance of the death warrant. 

However, Mazed told the court that he was not involved in the Bangabandhu murders.
 
A team of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit arrested Mazed from the capital's Mirpur area around 3:30 am Tuesday. Later, a Dhaka court sent him to jail.

The trial of Bangabandhu assassination case started in 1997, 22 years after a group of disgruntled army officers assassinated him along with most of his family members on August 15 in 1975 in his Dhamandi-32 residence. 

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on November 19, 2009 upheld the death penalty of 12 convicted ex-army officers for the assassinations.

Five convicts were executed on January 27 in 2010. They are Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan. 

However, six more self-confessed killers — Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Noor Chowdhury, Rashed Chowdhury, Abdul Mazed and Moslehuddin Khan — have remained at large for the last four decades.