Bangladesh was
set to execute a wealthy tycoon and top financial backer of its largest
Islamist party late Saturday, as his family paid him a final visit.
Mir Quasem
Ali, a key leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, faces the gallows after being
convicted by a controversial war crimes tribunal for offences committed during
the 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan.
Police told
AFP all preparations have been made to execute Ali, who is imprisoned at the
Kashimpur high security jail in Gazipur, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of
Dhaka.
“It (the
hanging) is likely to take place tonight,” Gazipur district police chief
Harun-or-Rashid told AFP.
After the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal
against the penalty on Tuesday, Ali declined to seek a presidential pardon,
which would require an admission of guilt, paving the way for his execution.
Two other police officials speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that the
execution would occur between 10:00 pm Bangladesh time (1600 GMT) and midnight.
Ali was a key commander of the notorious pro-Pakistan militia in the southern
port city of Chittagong during the 1971 war, and later became a shipping and
real estate tycoon. Russel Sheikh, a senior Gazipur police official, told AFP
that officials have taken “highest security measures” ahead of the planned
execution for fear of violence by his Islamist supporters.
“More than 1,000
police have been deployed in the district,” Sheikh told AFP. Past convictions
and executions of high-profile Jamaat leaders have triggered violence in
Bangladesh, which is polarised along political lines.
“All along he said he was
innocent. He said he is being killed unjustifiably,” said Tahera Tasnim, one of
Ali’s daughters after 23 members of his family went to meet him in the jail.
“He said this repressive government is killing them (Islamist leaders),” Tasnim
told AFP. The Supreme Court’s decision to reject Ali’s appeal was a major blow
for the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which the 63-year-old tycoon had helped to
revive in recent decades.
Five opposition leaders including four leading
Islamists have been executed for war crimes since 2013. Ali is the last
prominent Islamist leader to face execution.
The war crimes tribunal set up by
the government has divided the country, with supporters of Jamaat and the main
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) branding it a sham aimed at
eliminating their leaders.
Ali was convicted in November 2014 of a series of
crimes during Bangladesh’s war of separation from Pakistan, including the
abduction and murder of a young independence fighter.
His son Mir Ahmed Bin
Quasem, who was part of his legal defence team, was allegedly abducted by
security forces earlier in August, which critics say was an attempt to sow fear
and prevent protests against the imminent execution.
The Islamist party, which
is banned from contesting elections has labelled the charges against Ali
“false” and accusing the government of exacting “political vengeance”.
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