Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hit out at the US and questioned its commitment to democracy and the rule of law as Washington continued to shelter one of the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father and the founding father of Bangladesh, who was brutally assassinated on 15 August 1975 along with most of her family member. 

Rashed Chaudhary, one of the twelve people convicted in the murder case by different Bangladesh courts, continues to live freely in the US, despite repeated requests from Dhaka for his deportation. 
  
“After coming to power, I wrote to all the presidents of the USA requesting them to deport the convicted criminal. I don’t know why America, which is very vocal about democracy, is giving shelter to a killer!” Hasina was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune. 

“It’s surprising that we have to take lessons from them on the rule of law, democracy, and justice,” Hasina said, almost a month after US President Joe Biden denied Bangladesh an invitation to his Summit for Democracy, held on 9 and 10 December. 

Earlier, Hasina had criticized the US move to sanction seven of her top security officials, saying her country was strong enough to defend the country’s sovereignty on its own. 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who steered the country to independence in 1971, along with 17 of his family members, was brutally killed in 1975 when some senior military officials executed a coup. Only Hasina and his sister Sheikh Rehana in the family—both of them were abroad at the time—survived.

For almost twenty years, no trial was started against the killers of Mujib.  

The trial in the case started in 1996 when Hasina returned to power for the first time since the murder of Sheikh Mujib. A total of 12 people, many of them former military officials, were awarded death sentenced. Of them, five have been executed so far. One died of natural death in Zimbabwe. 

Two, Rashed Choudhary and Noor Choudhary, remain at large. The Bangladesh government claims Rashed has been living in the United States and Noor in Canada.  

The US sanctions against Bangladesh's top security officials came after several rights groups and human rights organizations repeatedly highlighted the abuse and excessive use of Bangladesh paramilitary forces in suppressing the freedom of speech, critics, and political rivals—an allegation Hasina's government denies. 

In an apparent attack on human rights groups' critical of her government, Hasina said on Tuesday where were these groups when the killers of Sheikh Mujib were walking free for years, without any trial. 

 (SAM)