Bangladesh to execute 1975 coup leaders this month after court rejects final plea

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Bangladesh to execute 1975 coup leaders this moth

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Five former soldiers convicted in the 1975 killing of Bangladesh’s independence leader in a military coup will be executed this month, the country’s law minister said Wednesday.

In November, a five-member Supreme Court jury dismissed the men’s appeal to commute their sentence. The same court rejected their pleas to reconsider its decision Wednesday, clearing the way for their execution, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters.

“The execution will happen anytime by Jan. 31,” Ahmed said after meeting with the officials of Dhaka Central Jail where the five men are held.

In 1998, a Dhaka court sentenced the men to death for the killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971. Until then, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan.

Six others who were also convicted are fugitives abroad, government attorney Mahbube Alam said. Another convicted man died in exile in Libya, he said.

Rahman became the country’s first leader after independence. But he and most of his family and close aides were gunned down at his Dhaka residence on Aug. 15, 1975, during a military coup.

The coup leaders were given indemnity by subsequent military rulers, and were only put on trial when Rahman’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina, became prime minister in 1996. Hasina and her younger sister, Rehana, survived the coup because they were touring Europe at the time.