The government, however, still does not have specific whereabouts of four of the six condemned fugitive convicts even after about seven years of the execution of five convicts in 2010.
Bangladesh has requested Pakistan to provide whereabouts of Khandaker Abdur Rashid, a key planner of the 1975 massacre, after recieving tip-offs that he might be hiding in Pakistan. The Pakistani authorities are yet to reply.
“There is enough progress in discussion” on bringing back one of the killers, law minister Anisul Huq told newsmen in Dhaka. “I’ll not give you details so that we can achieve our target.”
Replying to a question on presence of Rashed Chowdhury in the United States, the minister said Rashed “has somehow managed political asylum” where death sentence “is not prohibited”.
“There is also no legal restriction on handing over a condemned person” from the US, Anisul said.
The US Department of Justice “has given indication” that Rashed Chowdhury might be repatriated, officials said, and the government hired Skadden LLP, a US law firm, to pursue the matter. The government “is in close touch” with the US state department, Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security for completing the repatriation.
Bangladesh is also in discussion with the Canadian government to bring back SHMB Noor Chowdhury, another fugitive condemned killer, the law minister said. The government has updated information on all fugitive killers and “diplomatic efforts are on to bring them home”, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said at a briefing.
Bangladesh missed an opportunity to bring back Noor Chowdhury from Canada in late 2006 and early 2007 after Canada had refused to grant him political asylum.
According to Canadian laws, the country does not send back foreign nationals who face death penalty in their own country.
There is a bleak prospect that he would be deported from Canada as the application is still pending with the attorney general’s office for the past nine years.
Mujib was assassinated along with all but two of his family on August 15, 1975 at his Dhanmondi house in Dhaka by a group of army personnel.
His daughters – Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, and Sheikh Rehana – survived the massacre as they were abroad.
Shariful Haq Dalim, another condemned killer, is hiding in Spain, according to unconfirmed government information.
The government sent message in December 2016 to the German authorities mentioning that Muslim Uddin, another fugitive killer, is staying in the country. The German government sought more information about him. There is no information about Abdul Mazed, another fugitive condemned killer.
Five of the 12 condemned convicts were hanged in 2010 and six had gone in hiding abroad to avoid execution.
The prison authorities hanged five of the convicts – Syed Faruk Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Muhiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed – on January 27, 2010, a year after the Awami League-led alliance government assumed office. One of the killers, Abdul Aziz Pasha, reportedly died in Zimbabwe, state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said, adding that the government collected certificate of his death from the country.