Bangladesh halts execution of opposition leader

(11 Dec 2013) An Islamist opposition leader in Bangladesh has been spared execution after a judge in Dhaka granted him a reprieve shortly before he was due to be hanged.
Abdul Quader Mollah was convicted of crimes committed during the nation’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
He was due to be executed at 00:01 on Wednesday.
But lawyers went to the home of Judge Syed Mahmud Hossain and secured a postponement.
Mollah’s family had met him at a Dhaka jail for what was expected to be the last time.
On Wednesday Mollah’s lawyers were trying to convince the Supreme Court to throw out the sentence in a case that could usher in a fresh wave of political violence ahead of national elections set for next month.
“The honourable chief justice has indicated that the hearing is ongoing and the Attorney General is also there,” said Abdur Razzaq, a defence lawyer for Mollah.
“We have placed the stay (of execution) petition. So this verdict can’t be carried out as long as this hearing continues,” he said.
The Attorney General of Bangladesh criticised the stay of execution, saying Mollah is a war criminal and as such not entitled to appeal under the country’s constitution.
“Because of the fact that Quader Mollah has been convicted and sentenced for crimes against humanity, his appeal for a review petition is barred,” he said.
After beginning to hear the case on Wednesday, the Supreme Court adjourned its proceedings until Thursday.
Mollah’s party, the Jamaat-e-Islami party, issued a statement warning of “dire consequences” if he was executed.
As authorities finalised the time for the execution many mobile phone users in Bangladesh got a short message from an unknown number that said if Mollah was executed a civil war could break out.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said it is trying to determine who sent the message.
Protesters continued to rally at a major intersection in the capital on Wednesday, after gathering there on Tuesday evening to celebrate Mollah’s execution.
They were instead shocked by the reports of the postponement and staged a sit in at the intersection calling for Mollah to be hanged.
The execution would be the first from special trials begun by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010 for suspects accused of crimes during the nation’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
The government says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 (m) million people and raped 200-thousand women during the nine-month war.
Carrying out the execution would complicate an already critical political situation in Bangladesh, where the opposition has carried out violent protests for weeks to back a demand for a non-party caretaker government to oversee the general elections early next year.
The government has rejected that demand and said a political government headed by Hasina would conduct the election.