Bangladesh police arrests fugitive suspect in ex-president’s murder

Bangladesh president Ziaur Rahman, left, at a press conference in Dacca on June 3, 1978 following his electoral victory. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich)

Bangladesh police arrested on Thursday a retired military officer accused of involvement in the assassination of former president Ziaur Rahman more than four decades ago, a senior official said.

Ziaur Rahman, a war hero who went on to become president, was killed in 1981 during a military coup.

Following his assassination, a martial law court convicted 18 military officers of murdering him, although the defence argued they had not been given a fair trial.

Thirteen of them were then executed by hanging.

One of the alleged assassins, Md Mozaffar Hossain, went into hiding immediately after Rahman was killed.

Authorities had offered a reward of $2,000 for information leading to Hossain’s arrest, and on Thursday he was taken into custody.

“Md Mozaffar Hossain had remained a fugitive since 1981 after president Ziaur Rahman was assassinated. We detained him today,” Md Shafiqul Islam, chief of the police’s Detective Branch, told AFP.

“During interrogation, he explained his role in the assassination to us,” Islam added.

Police arrested the suspect shortly after he landed in Dhaka.

“Hossain left Bangladesh immediately after the coup attempt and had remained abroad ever since,” Islam said.

Rahman, whose son Tarique Rahman is now the country’s prime minister, became president in 1977 following the assassination of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

His four-year presidency was marked by dozens of coup attempts.

The circumstances surrounding Rahman’s assassination have remained shrouded in mystery.

He was killed while on a visit to Chattogram, where he had gone to resolve a crisis within his newly formed political party.