Bangladesh: Final Verdict Announced for Rahman Murder  

2009-11-19 11:47

 

On Thursday, Bangladesh's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for five men convicted of killing former leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman… in an army revolt in 1975. The killings ended the first spell of democracy in the country.

[Abu Yusuf Humayun, Prosecutor]:
“The court has accepted our arguments and rejected the defense’s arguments. The judges said that the lawyers of the accused could not present any new points that would make the court give them a punishment other than death penalty.”

Hundreds of people cheered when the court announced the final verdict.

[Rahamatullah, Member of Parliament]:
"The 15 million people of Bangladesh were waiting for justice, and the nation got it. So I am grateful to God."

The prosecutor is actually a relative of the slain leader. He teared up upon hearing the verdict. His mother and father were killed the same night as Rahman. He was relieved that the painful saga had come to an end.

Legal experts said the men on death row would still have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court for a review of the verdict… and then finally to the president for mercy.

Rahman was slain with most members of his family on August 15, 1975.

The trial of Rahman's killers began only after his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, was first elected prime minister in 1996. The process was slow because of legal complications and came to a halt after her rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, came to power in 2001.

After assuming office for a second time in January, Hasina resumed the trial of her father's killers.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led his country's fight against Pakistan that ended in independence for the former East Pakistan in December 1971.