By IANS,
Dhaka : The killers of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who are awaiting hanging “do not deserve mercy”, the country’s law minister said, but added “it is the president’s prerogative”.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed Monday said the three condemned Bangladesh Army officers who sought presidential mercy “should not get any reprieve, but it is the president’s prerogative”, The Daily Star said.
“The convicts killed the then president of the country also the father of the nation, along with most of his family. The killing was one of the most heinous offences in history, and that is why the killers do not deserve mercy,” he said.
Three mercy seekers – A.K.M. Mohiuddin, Bazlul Huda, and Mohiuddin Ahmed – sent their mercy petitions to the home ministry Saturday, and the law ministry has already given its legal opinion on the matter.
The government will execute the death sentences after all legal avenues for the condemned are exhausted, he added.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members were killed in a coup led by a group of army officers Aug 15, 1975.
Two other condemned convicts – Syed Farooq Rahman and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan – can’t seek presidential mercy as they did not submit their petitions by the Jan 9 deadline, he said.
The minister said death sentences of condemned convicts are usually executed between 21 to 28 days of the issuance of death warrants, according to the jail code.
The government has ignored a plea by the Amnesty International, a US-based human rights watchdog, for converting the death sentences to life imprisonment.
Six of those involved in the military putsch are abroad, believed to be in the Canada, Pakistan and Libya.
The government Monday said it would move the authorities in Libya to secure the convicts who have taken political asylum there.