Mojaheed, SQ Chy yet to decide on mercy seeking

The death row war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury did not give their decision over seeking presidential clemency till this evening.

The convicts will inform their decision later, according to a source of Dhaka Central Jail.

The jail authorities asked Mojaheed and Salauddin around noon whether they would seek the mercy, the last option for the war crimes convicts.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told The Daily Star at 7:28pm that he was not informed whether the war crimes convicts would seek presidential mercy.

"I am not informed when the convicts will be executed," he said.

Earlier in the day, the home minister at a function at Bottomley Home Girls' High School in the capital said the convicted war criminals will be hanged following the existing legal procedure.

“We are not doing anything deviating from law to execute the death sentences of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury,” he said this afternoon.

Terming the war criminals Mojaheed and Salauddin as enemies of the nation and humanity, Kamal said, “We are initiating measures to execute the verdict according to the order given by the country’s apex court in this regard.”

People from all walks of life have welcomed the death verdict of Mojaheed and Salauddin and they want its immediate execution, Kamal added.

“I am bravely telling that such a verdict was our expectation and it is going to be implemented,” he earlier said.

Responding to a query about law and order, he said law enforcement and intelligence agencies will remain alert on the streets to avert any untoward incident over the issue.

The jail authorities read out the Supreme Court judgments to the war crimes convicts after 10:00pm yesterday.

The apex court dismissed their review petitions on Wednesday, paving the way for the government to execute Mojaheed, general secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and Salauddin, a member of the BNP standing committee.

Family members of both the convicts met them inside the prison yesterday.