Bangladesh Hangs Ex-Army Man Abdul Majeed, Killer of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman

In 1998 Abdul Majed was sentenced in absentia to death along with a dozen other army officers over the murders. During interrogation, Majed claimed that he was in India for almost 20 years.

New Delhi: The Bangladesh government on Saturday midnight executed Abdul Majeed, a former military captain, over the assassination of Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Majed was arrested on Tuesday after he was on in the run for almost 25 years. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed along with most of his family in a military coup on August 15, 1975, nearly four years after he led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan.

In 1998 Abdul Majed was sentenced in absentia to death along with a dozen other army officers over the murders. During interrogation, Majed claimed that he was in India for almost 20 years.

On Tuesday, counter-terrorism police officers arrested Majed as he rode a rickshaw in Dhaka.

“He was hanged to death at 12.01 am Sunday (1801GMT),” law minister Anisul Huq told AFP, adding the execution took place at the country’s largest prison, just outside the capital Dhaka. Majed’s wife met him at the prison one last time on Saturday evening when the prison authorities had scheduled his execution.

Security has been tightened at the areas outside the prison at Keraniganj town, with scores of policemen patrolling the jailgate, reported AFP.