Two senior Bangladeshi opposition leaders were executed early Sunday for war crimes that they allegedly committed during the 1971 "independence war" with Pakistan after their last-ditch pleas for clemency were rejected. "Both of them have been hanged. The execution took place at 00:45am (1845 GMT Saturday)," Justice Minister Anisul Huq told AFP after Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury lost their final bid to escape the gallows.
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. Chowdhury, 66, was convicted for atrocities such as "genocide" during the 1971 war. 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. 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.