Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday claimed that despite the legal hurdles in Canada, it is possible to bring Noor Chowdhury, a self-confessed killer of Bangabandhu, back to the country, and therefore the Bangladesh government is holding talks with its Canadian counterpart.
“The government is discussing with Canada for a possible solution to bring back the death-row convict within the Canadian legal framework. But the ‘way’ cannot be disclosed at this moment, even if I knew,” the law minister said while talking to reporters after attending the inauguration of a training course for joint district judges as chief guest at the Judicial Administration Training Institute in Dhaka.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who held talks with the Canadian government on Chowdhury’s deportation during her visit there, will disclose details about the way once she returns home, Huq added.
Noor Chowdhury, a death sentence convict in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, is now absconding in Canada.
Replying to a question, Anisul Huq told reporters that the Canadian legal system does not allow deportation of any foreign citizen who might face death penalty in the home country.
Earlier in the programme, the minister urged the lower court judges to discharge their judicial functions with sincerity and honesty to establish rule of law and justice.
Earlier on Saturday, Anisul Huq said the recent media report about the expulsion of Chowdhury from Canada was false.
The court awarded him the death penalty for the killing of Bangabandhu and most of his family members on August 15, 1975. Five of the killers were hanged on January 28, 2010, following all legal procedures. Another six death-row convicts—Abdur Rashid, Shariful Haque Dalim, Noor Chowdhury, Moslemuddin, Rashed Chowdhury and Abdul Mazed—are now hiding abroad. Their associate, Abdul Aziz Pasha, died in Zimbabwe, in 2001.