‘Gallows ready for killer Mazed; wife gets call for final visit’

The government is taking preparations for the execution of Abdul Mazed, one of the convicts in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The authorities of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj have called wife Saleha Begum to pay Mazed the ‘final visit’, reports bdnews24.com.

Saleha said the jail authorities asked her to go to the prison at 11:30pm.

She said her sister and nephew would accompany her.

The wife of death row convict used to live in a house on road No. 1 in Dhaka Cantonment with their four daughters and one son.

Saleha said the family took preparations for Mazed’s burial at his village in Bhola’s Borhanuddin.

Their children did not accompany her when she visited Mazed on Friday afternoon along with some other relatives.

According to BSS, Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General AKM Mostafa Kamal Pasha said,“We are set for the execution . . . the last moment preparedness is underway.”

He said that the main hangman and his alternatives were kept ready for the execution which was due to be witnessed by concerned officials as required by the Jail Code.

They included Dhaka’s deputy commissioner, who is the district magistrate as well, police superintendent, civil surgeon, jail super and jailer while Pasha said he would also be present when the convict would be executed.

Earlier on Saturday night, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said, “The stage is set, you can wait for the execution.”

Their comments came a day after family members met the death-row convict and stayed with him for nearly two hours while jail officials said they were Majed’s wife and four other relatives.

President Abdul Hamid rejected his mercy petition three days ago, clearing ways for his execution hours after Majed sought clemency as the last ditch effort to save his neck.

Dhaka’s District and Sessions Judge’s Court earlier on that day issued his death warrant as Majed was produced on the dock when Judge Helaluddin Choudhuy also read out the charges and original judgment in line with legal procedures.

Court officials and police said, ahead of issuing the death warrant the judge also talked to the convict to confirm his identity.

The same court with Golam Rasul being the judge issued the original judgment in 1998 which was validated later by the High Court and eventually by Supreme Court’s appellate division.

Kamal earlier said the “self confessed killer” was not only involved in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman but also took part in the subsequent murders of four national leaders in high security Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975.

Majed was on the run for nearly two and half decades to evade justice and after his arrest he said he was hiding in India’s West Bengal for the past 23 years and returned to Bangladesh last month.

He was handed down the death penalty along with 12 other ex-military officers 1998 while the verdict was subsequently upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court’s apex Appellate Division.

In a dramatic event a specialised police unit last week arrested Majed from near a shrine in the capital, after his return home for unknown reasons.

Majed is one of the six absconding sacked army officers who were handed down capital punishment after trial in absentia.

Twelve sacked military officers were sentenced to death for the August 15, 1975 carnage and five of them were executed by now while one died a natural death as he was on the run abroad.