Bangladesh: ‘Butcher of Mirpur’: Quader Mollah hanged

''The execution of Quader Mollah is the beginning of the fulfilment of the long-cherished dream of Bangladeshis''

Abdul Quader Mollah, a top ranking Jamaat leader and a prime accused in the trial of war crimes, has at last been executed at one minute past ten on Thursday night at Dhaka Central Jail for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971. Mollah was one of the six Jamaat leaders who have been awarded death sentence. His execution was the first case of hanging in the process of war crimes trial. Mollah was indicted in the war crimes trial on six charges. He was accused of killing women and children, a journalist and a poet, raping women and mass killing of 344 innocent civilians at the Alubdi village in Mirpur and elsewhere. His heinous crime earned him notoriety as the ‘butcher of Mirpur’. The International Crimes Tribunal – 2 found him guilty on five counts and awarded him life term in prison on February 5, 2013. This conviction sparked sharp reaction among different sections of the people and gave rise to countrywide movement demanding maximum punishment for Mollah. These events led to the amendment of the crimes tribunal act allowing both parties in the case to submit appeal prayer against the sentence. Following an appeal from the government seeking capital punishment, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court found Mollah guilty of murders and other war crimes and converted his life sentence to death sentence. Later, on Tuesday night when the stage for his hanging was all set, the defence lawyers hurriedly submitted a review prayer with the SC, which rejected the review prayer after two day’s hearing. The final decision of the apex court cleared the way for the execution of Mollah. The people of the country had to wait for more than four decades to see the trial and punishment of the perpetrators of the most heinous crimes. The execution of Abdul Quader Mollah is just the beginning of the fulfilment of the long-cherished dream of the people who had to shed blood and tears and lose their near and dear ones to create a country of their own. They want to see the completion of the war crimes trial, award of deserving punishment to all war criminals along with execution of rest who have already been sent to the death house.