Bangladesh to hang opposition leaders in hours

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP that President Abdul Hamid turned down the pleas just hours after the two leaders sought the pardon in a bid to escape the gallows.

"The president has rejected their mercy petitions," Khan said, adding the authorities would now prepare for the executions of the two leaders.

The minister did not give any timelines for the execution, but deputy police chief of Dhaka Sheikh Maruf Hasan said the two convicted leaders, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, would be hanged later Saturday night.

"The executions will take place today. That's why we have stepped up security," Hasan told reporters in front of the gate of Dhaka Central Jail where the scaffolds have been prepared to execute the two by hanging.

Mujahid, 67, was sentenced to death for war crimes such as the killing of the country's top intellectuals. He is the second most senior member of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

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Bangladeshi secular activists and former fighters who fought in the 1971 war of independence against …

Chowdhury, 66, was convicted for atrocities such as genocide during the 1971 war when the then East Pakistan split from Islamabad. He is a six-times ex-lawmaker and a top aide to Khaleda Zia, leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

In a sign that the two leaders were set to be hanged within hours, family members of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury went to the prison to meet the two for the last time.

"The prison authorities have called us to meet our father. Definitely, that's the last meeting," Ali Ahmad Mabrur, the youngest son of Mujahid, told AFP as hundreds of police could be seen surrounding the prison compound.

Hojatul Islam, a lawyer for Salahuddin Qauder Chowdhury, said the former leader's family had also entered the jail to meet him. "This is the end," he said.

As part of a century-long tradition, Bangladeshi prison authorities call family members of death-row convicts to meet them one final time hours before their execution.

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Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, pictured, turned down the pleas just hours after the two oppositio …

- All avenues exhausted -

Earlier on Saturday, Justice Minister Anisul Huq said the two had sought clemency from the president after exhausting all legal appeals to avoid execution.

Hamid has the power to pardon or commute the death sentence of any convict.

Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed their final appeals, upholding the leaders' death sentences originally handed down by a controversial domestic war crimes tribunal in 2013.

Sons of the two convicts, however, questioned whether their fathers had in fact sought mercy, saying they don't believe the government's statements.

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Bangladeshi activists and former fighters who fought in the 1971 war of independence against Pakista …

The pair are among more than a dozen leaders of the opposition alliance convicted by a tribunal set up by the secular government in 2010.

The convictions triggered the country's deadliest violence since independence, with some 500 people killed, mainly in clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami activists and police.

There are fears the latest verdicts could spark fresh unrest in the Muslim-majority nation, which is reeling from a string of killings of secular bloggers as well as the murders of two foreigners in recent months.

Jamaat called a nationwide strike on Thursday, declaring Mujahid's original trial "farcical" and "aimed at eliminating" the party's leadership.

International rights groups and legal experts have also criticised the trial, saying it fell short of international standards.

On Friday New York-based Human Rights Watch asked Bangladesh to halt the "imminent executions" of Mujahid and Chowdhury, citing "serious fair trial concerns surrounding their convictions".

By Shafiqul Alam

孟加拉國以戰爭罪絞死兩名反對黨領導人

孟加拉國以1971年對巴基斯坦獨立戰爭中犯有戰爭罪的罪名絞死了兩名反對黨領導人。

薩拉赫丁·卡德爾·喬杜里和阿里·阿赫桑·穆罕默德·穆賈希德在首都達卡中央監獄被執行死刑。

他們被判犯下種族滅絕罪和強姦罪。他們均否認指控。

喬杜里一直是一個有影響力的政治家，他6次當選國會議員。穆賈希德是孟加拉最大的伊斯蘭政黨的最高層領導人。

孟加拉國內政部長說，在阿卜杜勒·哈米德總統拒絕兩個人要求寬大的上訴後，他們被執行絞刑。

孟加拉國最高法院本月早些時候維持對他們兩人的死刑判決。

喬杜里是孟加拉國反對黨孟加拉國家黨中被判反人類罪的最高層領導人，他的父親曾任東西巴基斯坦分裂前國家議會議長。

孟加拉國政府分別指控喬杜里和穆賈希德在1971年巴基斯坦分治戰爭期間迫害、折磨和殺害持不同宗教和政見人士。

但孟加拉國的反對黨說，他們遭到了政治迫害；人權團體說，這一審判不符合國際標凖。

1971年，東巴基斯坦（孟加拉）從要求自治轉而要求獨立，東西巴基斯坦爆發戰爭，1千萬東巴難民逃入印度。印度當年底入侵東巴基斯坦支持孟加拉獨立，12月份巴基斯坦軍隊在達卡投降，9萬名巴基斯坦軍人被印軍俘虜，孟加拉國隨之獨立。

當年殘酷的戰爭造成的死亡人數至今仍不清楚，孟加拉國稱300萬，而獨立的研究人員說多達50萬。

（編譯：立行/責編：友義）

孟加拉人民共和國（孟加拉語：গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ，Gônôprôjatôntri Bangladesh），簡稱孟加拉或孟加拉國（孟加拉語：বাংলাদেশ），南亞國家，位於孟加拉灣之北，東南山區一小部份與緬甸為鄰，其他部份都與印度接壤，並在北方邊境尚有大量飛地。

National symbols of Bangla-Desh (Official)
State animal
State bird
State tree
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State aquatic marine mammal
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State mosque
State temple
State river
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