Bangladesh SC upholds death sentence to all five Mujib assassins

The Bangladesh Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the convicted killers of the nation’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, paving the way for their execution after a 13-year trial.Profile: Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman

The Bangladesh Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by the convicted killers of the nation’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, paving the way for their execution after a 13-year trial.

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The country’s highest court dismissed the five men’s appeal, upholding their 2001 guilty verdicts, drawing an end to a case that has haunted the nation since the death of Sheikh Mujib in 1975.

“The Supreme Court has accepted our argument that the men are guilty and dismissed their appeals. They are going to go to the gallows now,” said Syed Anisul Haque, chief counsel for the state.

The killers first went on trial in 1996 and were convicted five years later.

They appealed the same year on the grounds that Sheikh Mujib’s death was part of a mutiny and they should have been tried under martial law instead of through the civilian court system.