[Dhaka Tribune] Abdul Majed, one of the convicts in the murder of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has appealed for the president's clemency. He reached out to President Abdul Hamid, through the jail authorities, seeking mercy from the death warrant issued against him by a Dhaka court earlier on Wednesday.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday evening.
When contacted, Majed's wife Safia Begum said she was not aware of her husband seeking clemency.
"But we have seen news scroll on TV about it," she told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday evening.
Judge Md Helal Chowdhury of Dhaka District and Sessions Judge's Court issued the death warrant against Majed, court official Komol Kumar Dey confirmed to Dhaka Tribune.
Mahbubul Islam, jailer at the Dhaka Central Jail, told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday evening that they received the death warrant around 5pm.
He said the jail authorities would read the warrant to Majed.
Earlier on Monday night, a team from Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police arrested Majed from Mirpur cantonment area in Dhaka.
He was sent to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj after being produced before the court of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AM Zulfikar Hayat on Tuesday.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Hemayetuddin Hiron told Dhaka Tribune that Majed, a dismissed army officer, had himself claimed to have been one of the murderers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family.
On November 19, 2009, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict that awarded capital punishment to 12 convicts for killing Bangabandhu and most of his family members in a coup d’état on August 15, 1975.
Still five killers remain runaway -- Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Maj (retd) Noor Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Rashed Chowdhury, and Risaldar Moslehuddin Khan.