OTTAWA - A tearful daughter begged the government on Wednesday to offer sanctuary to her father, who faces imminent deportation from the United States to Bangladesh, where he is under a death sentence.

Sabrina Ahmed says her father, Din Ahmed, is an innocent man, wrongly convicted and condemned in absentia. "Please allow my father to come to your country," she sobbed at a news conference. "You will be saving an innocent man's life."

Ahmed is a former Bangladeshi military officer convicted in absentia in 1998 for a role in the 1975 assassination of Mujibur Rahman, his country's first prime minister.

His family and other supporters say he was nowhere near the scene when the prime minister was murdered during a military coup and say he is the victim of vengeful political enemies.

He has been living in the United States since 1996, but his efforts to win asylum there have been fruitless.

His daughter says he could be sent to Bangladesh by the end of the week.

"There's virtually no time left," she said.

Irwin Cotler, a Montreal MP, former Liberal justice minister and a well-known civil rights activist, said Canada should intervene and offer an alternative destination to Ahmed.

Cotler said the man has family living in Nova Scotia and Toronto.

He said Canada should step in because it opposes capital punishment.

"Canada should not be a bystander in a situation where its intervention can save a life," he said.

Cotler, too, said Ahmed is a victim of injustice.

"He is in grave risk of being executed for a prior wrongful conviction in absentia."

There was no immediate reaction from the federal government. A spokesman for Immigration Minister Diane Finley said it's a matter for Foreign Affairs.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay did not reply to an e-mailed query.

In Washington, Ahmed's son Rouben Ahmed, a 34-year-old Los Angeles architect, said his father is a "pawn" who's being persecuted by a government bent on revenge.

"It's a nightmare," the son said. "My family has gone through hell. I'm very afraid. I don't want to lose my father. We can take care of him. He's not going to be a burden to the Canadian government.

"We hope Canada does the right thing. They have in the past."

He said affidavits from people familiar with the circumstances support his father's innocence, but won't be considered by the Bangladeshi courts, which have confirmed there's no chance to appeal the death sentence handed down in absentia.

Ahmed has seen his father several times since he was taken by U.S. immigration authorities and speaks to him regularly by phone.

"It's been tough. He's lost a lot of weight. He goes in and out. There are days he's strong."