Mohammad Bazlul Huda | |
---|---|
মোহাম্মদ বজলুল হুদা | |
Born | |
Died | |
Criminal status | Executed |
Conviction(s) | Murder (assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Pakistan (Before 1971) Bangladesh |
Service | Pakistan Army Mukti Bahini Bangladesh Army |
Years of service | 1968–1980 |
Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
Unit | Regiment of Artillery |
Commands |
|
Known for | Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman |
Battles / wars | Bangladesh Liberation War 15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état |
Mohammad Bazlul Huda (died 28 January 2010) was a Bangladeshi Army officer and freedom fighter who was convicted of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding president of Bangladesh. On 28 January 2010, Bazlul was executed along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed in Old Dhaka Central Jail. [1]
Bazlul Huda was born in a highly aristocratic and prestigious family from Gangni,Meherpur. He was a direct descendant of the last baro bhuiya leader usman Khan lohani of uhar kingdom(sylhet). His maternal grandfather was an M.L.A. His father Dr.Riyaz was also an M.L.A. in 1954. His ancestral home is in Hatboyalia,Alamdanga,Chuadanga. Bazlul Huda was commissioned in Pakistan Army's Artillery Regiment. During the 1971 liberation war, Bazlul Huda fled from West Pakistan to the East Pakistan to join the Freedom fighters. He was posted as the second-in-command of k -force's 1st Field Artillery battery. Then the commander of the 1st Field Artillery battery was Captain Aziz Pasha. In 1975, he was posted in the Military intelligence department as a Captain. During 15th August 1975,It was he(Huda) who killed Sheikh Kamal & Sheikh Mujib with sten gun. Sheikh Mujib was shot 18 times during the time among which the ones shot by Huda bursted his heart.
In 1973, Captain Huda was posted to 1st Field Artillery Regiment in Comilla Cantonment along with Major Shariful Haque Dalim. Dalim had gotten into a scuffle with the sons of Awami League leader Gazi Golam Mostafa. Later some officers and soldiers attacked the residence of Mostofa. The officers, including Major Dalim, lost their commissions in Bangladesh Army because of indiscipline shortly after. [2]
Huda met with other conspirators to finalize the plans on 14 August 1975. [3] On 15 August 1975, Huda was part of the mutinous troops that attacked the home of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Huda along with Major S.H.M.B Noor Chowdhury shot dead Sheikh Mujib as he was coming down the stairs. Major Syed Faruque Rahman promoted Captain Huda to Major at the home of Sheikh Mujib after Mujib and his family members were killed. [4] [5] The assassins were protected by the government of Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad that took power next, through the passage of 1975 Indemnity Ordinance. [6]
In August 1989 Huda had ordered Freedom Party, the party founded by the mutinous officers, activists to attack the Bangabandhu Bhaban when Sheikh Hasina was staying there. [7] On 11 February 1990, an Bangladesh Awami League rally was attacked by activists of Freedom Party killing one member of Bangladesh Awami League. Huda was arrested while fleeing from the spot. [8]
On 2 October 1996, AFM Mohitul Islam filed a case over the murder of Sheikh Mujib and most of his family members in 1975. [9] Dhaka sessions court on 8 November 1998 had given death sentences to Huda and 14 co-defendants. The convicts filled an appeal with Bangladesh High Court. The High court gave a split verdict with one judge confirming the death penalty of all 15 while another confirmed it for 10 of the accused on 14 December 2000. A third judge only confirmed the sentence of 12 of the accused. [10] On 19 November 2009, Bangladesh Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of 12 of the accused. [11] On 1996, Huda was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand on charges of shoplifting and ordered to be deported to Bangladesh. He declared himself stateless and applied for asylum with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. [12]
On 28 January 2010, Huda was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail along with 4 other co-conspirators. [11] [13] But in 2024 August a video has become viral where his brother claimed that he was not hanged instead he was slaughtered by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for killing her family on 15 August 1975 and also the photos of him having marks on his throat indicating that he was indeed slaughtered instead of hanged. [11] [13] His family claimed that then-Prime Minister and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's daughter Sheikh Hasina herself slaughtered him by cutting his throat on 28 January 2010 at the jail. According to some newspapers, the electricity went off in the jail and the surrounding area at 11:40 PM that night. Just 20 minutes before the power outage, five coffins were brought in. During the blackout, two Pajero jeeps with tinted windows entered the jail. In one of these jeeps, Sheikh Hasina was allegedly present. Some sources suggest that Huda was never taken to the gallows that night. Instead, he was kept in a room in the administrative building. After the other four killers were hanged, Hasina allegedly went to that room, where a Hindu executioner, brought in from Kashimpur Jail, was waiting. Four men reportedly held Huda down while Hasina placed one of her feet on his chest, and the executioner slaughtered him. According to an eyewitness, Huda's blood stained Hasina's saree, Bazlul Huda was slaughtered to death by Sheikh Hasina rather than being hanged to death like his comrades. [14] After the fall of Hasina, Huda's family filed a murder case on her and others for his alleged killing. [15]
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist, who was the founding leader of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he had held continuous positions either as Bangladesh's president or as its prime minister from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975. His nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are collectively known as Mujibism.
Sayed Farooq Rahman was the chief organizer involved in toppling the Sheikh Mujib regime in Bangladesh. He was convicted and hanged on 28 January 2010 along with co-conspirators Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Dhaka Central Jail, Old Dhaka, for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader and the first president of Bangladesh. Sayed Farooq Rahman and his close ally Khondaker Abdur Rashid were the chief organisers of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975. He was 2IC of the 1st Bengal Lancers Regiment of the Bangladesh Army who led a group of junior army officers in order to overthrow the regime of Sheikh Mujib and install Khondaker Mushtaque Ahmed as president of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, was assassinated along with most of his family members during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his residence as part of a coup d'état. The Minister of Commerce, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, immediately took control and proclaimed himself head of an interim government from 15 August to 6 November 1975; he was in turn succeeded by Chief Justice Abu Sayem. The assassination marked the first direct military intervention in Bangladesh's civilian administration. Lawrence Lifschultz characterized this incident as an outcome of the Cold War between the United States-influenced Pakistan and the Soviet Union-influenced India. 15 August is annually observed as National Mourning Day, a commemorative day in Bangladesh.
Jail Killing Day is observed by the Awami League (AL) of Bangladesh and many other political organisations on 3 November every year. It commemorates the killing of four Awami League and national leaders: former vice-president Syed Nazrul Islam, former prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed and Captain (Rtd.) Mansur Ali, and former home minister A H M Quamruzzaman on this date in 1975.
Sheikh Jamal was the second son of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Freedom Party, also known as Freedom Party is a political party founded by Sayed Farooq Rahman, Khandakar Abdur Rashid and Bazlul Huda who were the chief organisers of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975.
Begum Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, commonly known as Begum Mujib; and also known by her nickname Renu, was the wife of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh. She is the mother of Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League from 2009-2024. She was killed along with her husband, brother-in-law, 3 sons and 2 daughters-in-law.
Sheikh Rehana Siddiq is a Bangladesh Awami League politician. She is the younger sister of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the daughter of the first President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She is also the mother of Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour Party politician and elected Member of Parliament and City Minister.
Gazi Golam Mostafa was a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a former member of the East Pakistan provincial assembly.
Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan was a Bangladeshi army officer who was convicted for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and then President of Bangladesh. On 28 January 2010, Rahman was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
S.H.M.B Noor Chowdhury is a Bangladesh army officer who was convicted for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, president of Bangladesh, and for involvement in the murder of four national leaders in the Jail Killing. As of 2017, he was a fugitive, residing in Canada. The Canadian government has refused to extradite him, because he faces the death penalty in Bangladesh.
Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, also known as Bangabandhu Bhaban or Dhanmondi 32, located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh, was the personal residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was also called Bangabandhu, the founding leader and president of Bangladesh. Mujib was assassinated with most members of his family in this residence. The museum was listed as a national heritage site in 2009 by RAJUK and was largely damaged in a mob violence in 2024.
A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed was a Bangladesh Army officer who was convicted in absentia and executed for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On 28 January 2010, Ahmed was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The military coup in Bangladesh on August 15 of 1975 was launched by mid-ranking army officers in order to assassinate founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose administration post-independence grew corrupt and reportedly authoritarian until he established a one-party state-based government led by the socialist party Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League. Mujib, along with his resident family members, were killed during the coup but was survived by his two then-expat daughters, one of them being future prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The officers were led by Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Sayed Farooq Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim.
Daily Banglar Bani was a Bangladeshi national newspaper published in the Bengali language. Banglar Bani had a secular ideology and was pro Bangladesh Awami League. It has closed down.
Ahmed Sharful Hossain, also known as Shariful Islam, is a Bangladesh Army officer and a fugitive involved in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975, and the related Jail Killing incident in November 1975.
The 3 November coup d'état was organised by Brig. Khaled Mosharraf against President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad to remove him from the presidency and the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from power: Capt. Abdul Majed, Maj. Syed Faruque Rahman, Maj. Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Maj. Shariful Haque Dalim. The coup resulted a return of Mujibist forces in Bangladeshi politics for a short time.
Abdul Majed was a Bangladeshi military officer who was convicted for his role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh.
Abdul Wahab Joardar is a Bangladesh Army non-commissioned officer who is known for his role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh.
The Jail Killing refers to the murder of four leaders of the Awami League political party in Bangladesh by army officers who carried out a coup d'état there on 15 August 1975. The four killed were former President Syed Nazrul Islam, former prime ministers Tajuddin Ahmad and Muhammad Mansur Ali, and President of Awami League A. H. M Qamaruzzaman.