Dhaka waits for hearing in Canada court over Noor Chy

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 06:00, Aug 15, 2018 | Updated : 17:13, Aug 15, 2018

Noor ChowdhuryThe government is waiting for hearing on a case related to bring back Bangabandhu killer Noor Chowdhury from Canada.
The Bangladesh court awarded him death penalty for the massacre of the family of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Aug 15, 1975.
It filed a case with Canada Federal Court in July requesting it to give a ruling on disposing off a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) petition filed by the fugitive death row convict.
Chowdhury filed the PRRA petition with the Canadian attorney general’s office seeking permission to stay in the country.
“We have submitted our documents and the attorney general office also submitted their documents on Aug 3,” said an official seeking anonymity.
The court will schedule a hearing when Bangladesh will present its case seeking a decision from the court, he said.
In 1999, a Canadian court refused Chowdhury’s refugee application. It also instructed the authorities concerned to take necessary measures to deport him.
He appealed against it, but failed to secure a verdict. In 2007, the decision to deporting him was upheld.
After the Awami League took office in 2009, Chowdhury moved the PRRA petition.
Bangladesh has requested Canada several times to extradite Noor Chowdhury, but Ottawa turned down the request citing legal limitation.
In his plea, Chowdhury stated he faces the death penalty back home and asked the attorney general’s office to allow him to live in the country. But, for the last nine years, it has been pending with the AG office as it is reluctant to give any decision.
Canadian legal system does not allow deportation of any foreign citizen who might face death penalty in their home country.
The official said, “We filed the case so that the court instructs the AG office to give a decision.”
If the AG office refuses his petition, then there will be no bar to his deportation, according to the official.
However, if the petition is accepted Chowdhury would get the status leading to Canadian citizenship, the official said before adding: “We will then file another case seeking his deportation citing the crime against humanity committed by him.”
The official said Chowdhury’s now enjoys no status, but allowed to live in Canada since he faces the death penalty in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali recently in the parliament said the government is pursuing diplomatic efforts to bring back the killers of Bangabandhu.
The minister said, “Canada is reluctant to deport Noor Chowdhury even though Federal Court denied his refugee status application and issued a deportation order,” he said.
The minister informed the House that fugitive death row convict Khandkar Abdur Rashid is in Pakistan, Shariful Haque Dalim in Libya or Zimbabwe and Abdul Mazed in Senegal.
Risaldar Mosleh Uddin was believed to be in Germany but it could not be verified, he said.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his family members was brutally killed on August 15, 1975.
The military government which came to power after his assassination blocked the trial of the killings by promulgating the infamous Indemnity Ordinance.
The trial process began in 1996 when the Awami League government came to power after 21 years.
Out of 12 convicted, five were executed in 2010. They are Syed Farooq Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed and Bazlul Huda.
Md Abdul Aziz Pasha died of natural causes in Zimbabwe as fugitive.
In 2007, the US deported convict AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed after the court turned down his plea for political asylum.
However, convict Rashed Chowdhury successfully managed to get political asylum in the US.

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