President Zillur Rahman has remitted the death sentence of Lakshmipur mayor Abu Taher's eldest son AHM Biplab, which has triggered intense criticism by law experts and human rights activists.
Biplab was sentenced to death by the Chittagong Speedy Trial Tribunal on 9 December, 2003 on charge of killing lawyer Nurul Islam, a local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, on 18 September, 2000 in Lakshmipur.
After more than 10 years in hiding, Biplab surrendered to a court in Lakshmipur on April 4, and was sent to the local jail.
The president remitted the death sentence after receiving a petition filed by Biplab's father Abu Taher, an Awami League leader, who has been widely criticised for alleged involvement in terrorism during the Awami League government's regime between 1996 and 2001, and especially after threatening journalists for reporting on the murder of Nurul Islam.
The home affairs ministry on July 17 issued a letter to the prison authorities in Lakshmipur, informing them that the president had remitted Biplab's death sentence.
Referring to the letter, the prison authorities sent a letter the Chittagong Speedy Trial Tribunal which was received on Tuesday.
The tribunal, in its reply, said that even though the president had remitted the death sentence, Biplab had to serve the sentences of life-term imprisonment in two other murder cases.
The presidential clemency has panicked Nurul Islam's family members.
Nurul Islam's wife Rashida Islam on Wednesday told New Age, 'We are suffering from a feeling of grave insecurity due to the clemency, and we cannot understand how a murderer can get such clemency.'
'We could not stay at home in Lakshmipur during the Awami League's rule after the killing, and now we are facing a similar situation,' she added.
The clemency has also drawn widespread criticism from legal experts and human rights activists.
Former adviser to the caretaker government AF Hassan Ariff and BRAC University's teacher Shahdeen Malik, both of whom are Supreme Court lawyers and rights activists, demanded that the government should make public the grounds for remitting the sentence.
'The people have the right to know the grounds on which the president has remitted the death sentence of the convict,' said Ariff, also a former attorney general.
'The government should make public the documents that have led the president to extend clemency so that the people can examine the legality of the clemency, as it has raised questions in the citizens,' said Shahdeen.
Odhikar's secretary Adilur Rahman Khan, also a Supreme Court lawyer, said that such clemency was against the principle of the rule of law, as it would encourage other criminals.
The Supreme Court Bar Association's president Khondker Mahbub Hossain, also a criminal law expert, said that the clemency was a political decision of the government, as the president had to act in this regard on the advice of the prime minister.
'The government is withdrawing all the cases against its leaders and activists and remitting the sentences against them on the one hand, while on the other it is filing new cases against the opposition leaders and activists, exposing its contempt for the principle of rule of law,' he said.
In June the government was criticised for remitting the sentence of imprisonment of Shahdab Akbar Chowdhury Labu, son of deputy leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, a member of Awami League's presidium.
Labu had been jailed by a special judge's court on charge of amassing illegal wealth which was disproportionate to his legitimate sources of income.
Nurul Islam was abducted from his house in Lakshmipur on 18 September, 2000 and was never seen again.
He was allegedly slaughtered at Taher's house by his sons and others, chopped into pieces and then thrown into the Meghna River in a sack.
The tribunal on 9 December, 2003 delivered the verdict in the case, sentencing five persons, including three sons of Taher, to death and nine others to imprisonment for life. Taher, his wife Najma Taher and another accused were acquitted of the charge.
However Taher was sentenced to imprisonment for life on charge of killing BNP activist Kamal in Lakshmipur in 2000. Taher's sons AKM Salahuddin Tipu and Abdul Jabbar Lablu were sentenced to death, and Biblab and Awami League workers Khaleq, Babar and Marzur were sentenced to imprisonment for life in the Kamal murder case. All of them, except Biplab and Khaleq, were later acquitted of the charges by the High Court.
Source : New Age
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