Bangladesh has passed a day waiting to learn if death-row war criminals Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid will beg the president to spare their lives or when they will walk the gallows.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said they were asked about the matter after the review verdicts were read out to them on Thursday, but no word from them was forthcoming until late Friday night.
The protracted legal battle ended on Wednesday when the Supreme Court refused to review their death sentences that it had upheld.
The fate of the senior politicians, who have been dodging execution for the past two years through legal challenges, now hinges on presidential pardon.
Over 50 journalists converged in front of the Dhaka Central Jail until Friday midnight as curiosity had begun rising since Thursday night.
The jail officials disappointed; but some reporters claimed a mock execution was conducted in the morning and the authorities checked the preparations.
A guard of the jail told bdnews24.com BNP leader Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mujahid said on Thursday night they would decide about the mercy petitions later.
Prison officials went to the condemned cells after the Juma prayers, but the convicts remain tightlipped.
One of the journalists claimed he had news that the home secretary and inspector general of prisons had a meeting about the execution.
Another said Dhaka’s deputy commissioner, civil surgeon and some other officials should have been at the jail if the execution were to take place, but none of them could be seen.
Again, it was argued, bamboos, tarpaulin, and other things used during the executions of Jamaat assistant secretaries general Abdul Quader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman were not taken inside.
Some journalists maintained these things had been taken into the jail beforehand.
The jail officials, however, only said they were prepared to execute the death sentences.
The public, curious as ever, were not allowed near the jail gates as extra security measures have been taken since the verdicts had been issued.
The law enforcers were also questioning people on suspicion.
A private bank security guard, ‘Habib’, was seen near the jail gate in the morning. He was also seen at the same place in the evening.
“There will be executions. I have come to see what happens,” he said.
The shopkeepers of plastic products in the area were also inquisitive. They were asking the journalists questions about the date of the execution.
Salauddin Quader’s sons Fazlul Quader Chowdhury Faiyaz, Hummam Quader Chowdhury, and several other relatives came to the jail at around 9pm.
They said they wanted to know the BNP leader’s decision about the mercy petition.
The jail authorities, however, denied them access to him.
Hummam Quader told reporters, “Yesterday’s (Thursday) visit was a casual visit. He did not say whether he would file a mercy petition.”
“He had only said he wanted to meet the lawyers and make a decision after that meeting,” he added.
Hummam also said they had come to meet his father because the lawyers had been denied entry even after waiting at the jail gate ‘for a long time’.
Mujahid’s family called a media conference to express their view on Saturday afternoon, his lawyer Gazi MH Tamim said.
Police were patrolling the area on armoured personnel carrier.
Additional RAB personnel were mobilised in the area on Friday.
RAB-10 Commander Jahangir Hossain Matubbor said his force was ready to thwart any attempt of sabotage.
Chawkbazar Police Station OC Shamim-ur-Rashid Talukder said police took highest security measures ahead of the execution.
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