BDINN Newsletter / October 26, 2015

Death Sentence of
Jamaat Leader
Ali Ahsan Mohammad
Mujahid

How Just is that?

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid is the Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
and former Social Welfare Minister of the
Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. He has gained huge reputation for his
transparency, honesty and corruption free
life. He also played outstanding role for the
establishment of democracy, rule of law and
human rights in Bangladesh. The nation admired him for his sincere role in all the democratic and anti-autocratic movement.
The incumbent government in Bangladesh is
extremely envious of his popularity. They are
also in fear witnessing the growing acceptance of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. To
resist this expanding force, they initiated a
tribunal just immediate after coming to the
power in order to prosecute the opposition
Islamist forces. As the government did not
find any misdeeds or corruption in the previous record of these leaders, they had initiated the trial implicating them with some
offences which had been committed 44 years
back, during the war of independence in
1971. In the name of trying the war criminals,
the government started a new conspiracy
against the opposition leaders, particularly
against the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami including Mr. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.

The Government of Bangladesh has established an

international crimes tribunal in 2010 to prosecute
the leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami . Though
it is international in name, but actually it is a domestic court. All the judges and prosecutors are locals, even with some ruling party connections. No
foreign lawyers and international observers are allowed to witness this trial.
In past couple of years, many international organizations like UN, European Union, Human rights
watch, Amnesty International, International Bar Association and many distinguished personnel around
the world raised questions and expressed concern
over the standard and partisan activities of the tribunal. Terming the court as a governments tool of
repression, they asked the government to halt the
trial process.
But ignoring all the recommendations, the government continued the trial and already executed two
top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami namely martyr Abdul
Quader Molla and martyr Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and now Mr. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid is apparently going to accept the same fate.
1

- Though the prosecution brought allegation

What are the allegations against him?

Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former Social Welfare Minister and popular leader Mr. Ali Ahsan Mujahid is held captive in prison unlawfully for last 5 years. He is a
victim of political vengeance of the ruling government in Bangladesh. Government in order to
kill him has conspired to convict him through the false accusation and cases of crime against
humanity and false witnesses given by party men guided by the blueprint design of the government. The allegations brought against him are totally fabricated and staged drama.

of killing a specific intellectual namely Shirajuddin Hossen, a renowned journalist

against Mr. Mujahid, but the appellate division has acquitted him from the charge.
- Mr. Mujahid has been convicted and sentenced as a commander of Al Badar (An
auxiliary force of the Pakistani Army). But
the prosecution failed to address following

The trial court (International Crimes Tribunal)

merged charge number one (the murder of
journalist Shirajuddin Hossen) into charge
number 6 (criminal offence in Mohammadpur
Physical Training institute) and awarded death
sentence to Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.
The Appeal court has acquitted him from
charge number one and maintained the death
penalty for making conspiracy to conduct intellectual killing.
The lawyers of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid
filed the review petition in the concerned section of the Supreme Court on 14th October,
2015 at 10 am. In the 38 pages of the petition
the lawyers have included 32 grounds. Some of
those are as follows:

Rustom recognize him? However, if it is taken as

assumable truth, thus it proves that Mujahid
plotted conspiracy or designed planning for
these killings with the army officer?
- Jahir Uddin Jalal stated in his testimony that
Rustom Ali Molla informed him about the frequent movement of Nizami, Mujahid at the
Mohammadpur Physical Training Institute. But

burning questions in this regard

- Who and when appointed Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid as the commander of Al
Badar force?
- Was he the first and last commander of Al
Badar? Who had discharged this duty before
and after his office?

the investigation officer clearly denied such

- According to the prosecution, Al Badar was

claim and said Rustom had never told him that

formed in Jamalpur district with the initia-

he had knew Jalal before. So the claim of Jalal in

tive of one Pakistani officer Major Riaz.

this regard is being proved false.

Mujahid was the President of Dhaka district

- Raham Ali Molla, the father of Rustom Ali Molla was the security guard of Mohammadpur
Physical training institute in those days of war.
Investigation officer admitted in the cross exami-

Islami Chhatrashangha at that time. How he

became the chief of the force staying in
Dhaka while the force was established in
some other parts of the country?

nation that Raham Ali Molla is alive now but the

- In the book The Vanquished Generals

prosecution did not produce him as witness. The

edited by noted academician Professor

then Principal of the Physical training institute

Muntasir Mamun, two top generals of the

Mohibbullah Khan Majlish and his son and cur-

Pakistani Army Rao Forman Ali and AAK

rent principal Tareq Iqbal Khan Majlish (who was

Niazi admitted that Al Badar was operated

a student of class 8 in 1971) were not produced

under the command and control of the

as witness as well. Moreover the investigation

Pakistani army. Being a student, how Mr.

officer did not talk to anyone who had been

Mujahid became the chief of such a para-

working in the Mohammadpur Physical Training

military force. We have submitted this book

- Rustom Ali Molla did not see Mujahid to plot

institute in 1971 or any staffs who had resided

as the Fresh Evidence along with our re-

conspiracy or to design planning with the sen-

inside the institute or even the IO did not pro-

view petition.

ior army officers. He claimed to see Mujahid at

duce any of them as witness. Ignoring and defy-

the gate of the Mohammadpur Physical Train-

ing the availability of the senior and credible

- During the trial, the investigating officer of

ing institute 3/4 months after the war begins.

persons of those incidents, the prosecution

the case categorically admitted that during

He further admitted that he did not know Mu-

brought an immature man of that time and

his two yearlong investigations, he did not

jahid. The security guards who were working

based on his false and contradictory statement,

find out the name of Mujahid in any list of Al

over there, they were talking about the arrival

the death penalty of Mr. Mujahid is maintained.

Badar, Al Shams, Razakars or peace com-

- In support of the intellectual killing allegations, the prosecution brought two witnesses.
One is Rustom Ali Molla who was 14 in 1971
and the second one is Jahir Uddin Jalal who
was just 13 during the 1971 war. Rustom Ali
Molla claimed himself as eyewitness though
there are severe discrepancies in his statement
while Jalal has appeared as a hearsay witness.

mittee. Then how did the court convict him

of Ghulam Azam, Nizami and Mujahid at the

Mohammadpur Physical Training institute and
then he came to know Mujahid. It becomes
crystal clear from Rustoms testimony that he
knew none of these aforesaid 3 persons. Nobody has introduced him with Mujahid specifically as well. Then naturally the question
comes up, without any prior knowledge about
the face or the identity of Mujahid, how did

- It has been alleged that Mujahid had hatched

as the commander of Al Badar?

conspiracy with the army officials for committing

intellectual killing. But the prosecution failed to

- Immediate after the war of independence

reveal that how, when and with whom he had

(17th December to 1972), many news had

made this conspiracy. Even, the prosecution

been published in the then dailies about the

utterly failed to produce any evidence to prove

atrocities and crimes of Al Badar which also

that who had been murdered for this alleged

asked the countrymen to assist in process of

conspiracy.

arresting the people who had involved with

those crimes. But no news is found mentioning the

name of Mujahid. If he really was the commander
of AL Badar, then immediate after independence,
why did the people fail to blame him for any
offence?
- In connection with the intellectual murder, 42
cases had been filed under the collaborator act in
1972. The prosecution did not submit the documents of those cases during the trial of the instant
case. But it is truly questionable that after 42 years,
the liabilities of all those murders are being imposed upon a single man, Mujahid.
- A 7 member investigation committee led by renowned film maker Zahir Raihan had been formed
on 29th December, 1971 for probing the intellectual
murder. Veteran lawyer Barrister Amirul Islam and
Barrister Maudud Ahmed were also included as a
member in this committee. The prosecution in the
case against Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid did not
submit the findings of that investigation committee
or not even discussed the matter with any of the
committee members. Why the prosecution did not
disclose the report of this probe committee before
the nation?

How biased and politicized was the court?

Though the government and ICT have

group. He was not an official of the court and yet,

stated that justice was the priority,

like a Czar, he controlled every aspect of the

opposition parties Jamaat-e-Islami and

tribunal. On many occasions, he has written orders that were handed down by the court as-is.

the BNP accused the prime minis-

He has also designed a guideline for the judges

ter Sheikh Hasina of using the tribunal

and a basic structure for all the verdicts to come,

to persecute them.

way before the trials completed.

In December 2012, conversations and

emails between the judge and a Brussels-based

The honorable Appellate Division did not

award death sentence to Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid for any specific murder or
offence. Simply based on assumption, they
have made Mujahid liable for plotting the conspiracies of the intellectual murder as a whole.
There is no precedence in the 400 hundred
year long history of judiciary that, a man is
being sentenced with death penalty for his role
as a conspirator even after his physical involvement is not confirmed.

lawyer were published, which according to The

Actually, this is not a trial. This is simply a

game of the current government with the public sentiment about the war of liberation. This
is a strategy of repression which has been
adopted by the ruling authority to destroy the
possible rising opposition forces.

disregarded and the verdicts have already been

Economist revealed that the government wanted

a quick verdict from the International Crimes
Tribunal.
Following the revelations, the controversial chief
Justice Nizamul Huq resigned from the post and
Fazle Kabir was appointed there.
It was absolutely clear, from the very beginning,
that these courts are merely kangaroo courts,
where standards of law and justice are blatantly

decided before the trials have begun. Several key

incidents made this obvious:
As revealed in #SkypeGate, the judges of this
mockery of justice were directed by Ziauddin

A number of the Tribunal members participated

in the so called Gana Adalat Commission (or Peoples Court) that prejudged these cases in the
early 1990s. Indeed the former Chairman of the
Tribunal is listed as a member of the Secretariat
of the Commission.
There was clear evidence of collusion between
the Tribunal, the prosecution, and members of an
anti-Jamaat organization during the trial process. The prosecutor and judges would meet
regularly in secret and decide how they would act
in unison against the defense.
Former Chairmen of the ICT-1, Justice Nizamul
Huq, admitted that a state minister, Quamrul
Islam, pressured him for quick verdicts and a
judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court, Justice SK Sinha, offered him promotion in
return.

Ahmed, a member of a notorious anti-Jamaat

Law enforcers have been

harassing the defence lawyers
of Mujahid.
On 22th Oct, Advocate Asad Uddin, who is making regular effort in the Appeal preparation of Jamaat leaders has
been picked up by the law enforcing agencies while going
to his native district Sirajganj and taken into an unknown
place.
Police also raided into the house of Advocate Mohammad
Shihir Monir that evening. Shishir Monir is one of the key
members of the defence team and he is engaged now at
the preparation of the review petition hearing of Jamaats
Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid. The
date of the review hearing of Mr. Mujahid is fixed at 2nd
November. Police is creating obstruction in his professional activities by conducting raid into his house. Harassment of the lawyers is somehow similar to create obstruction in the judicial process. Earlier, the defence team
members had faced similar harassment and police raid in
their houses and chambers. Subsequently the defence
team had filed an application in the international crimes
tribunal seeking protection. Later, the tribunal ordered
not to harass or arrest the members of the defence team.
That order of the tribunal is still valid.
Just before the appeal hearing begins, such harassment,
raid and abduction of the defence lawyers from the vehicle is amount to create obstruction in providing the legal
assistance. The lawyers are being regarded as the officers
of the court. So by harassing them, actually the government is hampering the judicial procedure.

Who is Mujahid?
Mr. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid is the Secretary General of
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a party in opposition in Bangladesh. He also served the nation as the Social Welfare Minister
from 2001-2006. He has played pivotal role in all the previous
movement against the autocracy to restore democracy in the
country. But simply out of political vendetta, the present government brought some false and concocted charges against him
as they failed to tackle him politically.
Mujahid was sentenced to death in 2013 in line with the allegation of committing crimes against humanity during the liberation war of 1971, charges which had never been heard in last 44
years.
Mr Mujahid was a student leader in 1971 and among those who
supported a unified Pakistan.
He later became social welfare minister in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government from 2001-2006.
He is highly regarded for his oratory and organizational skills.

Commenting on this unjust situation son of Mujahid, Ali

Ahmad Mabrur, said:
We have been taking preparation maintaining the legal
and approved course of actions. Already our lawyers have
submitted the review petition as per the Supreme Courts
rules and it is ready for hearing. Then why our lawyers are
being harassed? The people who are talking about rule of
law, would they kindly explain that why our lawyers are
being obstructed in performing their duties? Why the
lawyers, the officers of the court are being barred?
We do not know that whether we would get justice or
not, but are we going to lose our minimum right to face
the case legally?
We are condemning such role of the government and calling upon the concerned authorities to stop the harassment of the lawyers and to assist them in discharging
their professional duties properly.