The family of executed BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury will send a legal notice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, seeking evidence to support their claim that he was subjected to a ‘judicial killing’ by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
“My father was subjected to a grave injustice… They (ICT) never allowed him to get fair justice and he was killed… It was a judicial murder. The Awami League regime was directly involved in it,” said Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s younger son Hummam Quader Chowdhury.
Speaking at a press conference at their Dhanmondi residence in Dhaka on Thursday, he said four defence witnesses --Munim Arzuman Khan, Ambar Harun Saigal, Ishaq Khan Khagwani and Niyaz Ahmed Noor -- had wanted to come to Bangladesh to testify for his father.
He alleged that they were denied visas, which forced them to publish their evidence on YouTube instead.
Hummam, a member of the BNP’s executive committee, claimed these witnesses could have proved that his father was studying at Punjab University in 1971.
He said the reason for mentioning their names was that when the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry sends messages to its missions abroad, they are called ciphers, and most of these cipher messages are coded and marked as secret.
“We have received one such cipher message. It names these four individuals and says they must not be granted visas under any circumstances. This proves that my father was subjected to judicial killing,” the BNP leader said.
He said it was clear what a serious violation it was to stop these four people from coming to Bangladesh as witnesses, which prevented a proper defence.
“We’re sending a legal notice to the Foreign Ministry. We are demanding that these cipher messages be declassified. All cipher messages related to my father’s trial should be declassified and given to us. We will send the notice on Sunday. I hope you (the ministry) will help us get justice for this killing,” Hummam said.
He also demanded that the names of all Foreign Ministry officials involved in these cipher messages be made public.
Hummam said their aim is not a media trial and that they already have enough evidence to go directly to the High Court while following all legal formalities – but they want to do so with the cooperation of the interim government. “We hope we will be able to prove that Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was innocent and that he was a victim of judicial murder.”
He said they had already spoken to lawyers to prepare the case. “Inshallah, we will go to court through a writ petition. We hope that if we at least get the government’s cooperation and these documents are declassified, we will go to court with that evidence. We can go to court now, but we will do so while keeping to all formalities. We hope to file the petition in court on Sunday.”
The BNP leader claimed the family could not bring important defence witnesses because they were blocked. “This obstruction stopped us from proving my father’s innocence in court.”
Hummam also alleged that his father was targeted politically, not personally. “If the aim was to kill him, it could have been done easily. The real goal was to destroy his political influence. My father was known as a nationalist.”
Salauddin Quader was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal in 2013 for crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War. The High Court upheld the sentence, and he was executed on 22 November 2015 in Dhaka Central Jail, on the same day as Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and others.
Hummam said the tribunal itself was controversial and biased. “Even witnesses were coached, tortured, and pressured to give statements.”
He said his father had refused to seek mercy before his execution. “He said he was going to Allah for justice and would not bow to anyone.”
The press conference was attended by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s wife, Farhat Quader Chowdhury, her two sons and legal representatives.