Bangladesh arrests fugitive in 1981 ex-president murder
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- Bangladesh police arrested retired military officer Md Mozaffar Hossain on July 16 at Dhaka airport upon his return, accusing him of involvement in the 1981 assassination of former president Ziaur Rahman.
- Hossain had been a fugitive since 1981, fleeing Bangladesh immediately after the coup and living abroad ever since; authorities had offered a US$2,000 (S$2,580) reward for information leading to his capture.
- Rahman, a war hero who became president in 1977 after the assassination of founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed during a military coup while visiting Chattogram to resolve a crisis within his newly formed political party.
- A martial law court convicted 18 military officers in connection with the assassination — though the defence argued they were not given a fair trial — and 13 of them were subsequently executed by hanging.
- Police Detective Branch chief Md Shafiqul Islam told AFP that Hossain, during interrogation, "explained his role in the assassination to us."
- Rahman's son Tarique Rahman now serves as Bangladesh's prime minister, and the circumstances surrounding the 1981 assassination have remained "shrouded in mystery," according to AFP.
Why it matters: The arrest closes a 44-year-old fugitive case in a country whose modern political lineage runs from founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (assassinated 1975) to Ziaur Rahman (assassinated 1981) to current PM Tarique Rahman. Hossain's interrogation confession, police say, could finally illuminate an assassination long "shrouded in mystery," while 18 prior convictions and 13 executions — achieved via a martial law court the defence called unfair — show how much of the case was already resolved without him.
