Hasina wrote to Trump over Rashed Chy's extradition

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Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
Published : 13:36, Aug 15, 2019 | Updated : 15:27, Aug 15, 2019


Rashed ChowduryPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina wrote to to US president Donald Trump to have fugitive Bangabandhu murder convict Rashed Chowdhury extradited to Bangladesh.

The letter was sent in September 2018, confirmed a foreign ministry official. After the killing of Bangabandhu, Rashed Chowdhury was deputed to the ministry of foreign affairs and was posted to Jeddah.

In 1996, his job was terminated and when he was asked to come back, Rashed Chowdhury fled to San Francisco, USA.

Several sources have said that Rashed Chowdhury found political refuge in USA. Bangladesh’s efforts since 2009 to have him extradited have not met with any positive response. Since 2015, the government of Bangladesh has been sending regular letters to USA to have Rashed brought back to face justice.

A foreign ministry official says: “We were informed that the issue has been sent to the US Department of Justice; since extradition involves legal complexities, it’s looked after by the justice department.”

The foreign ministry says that verdict on Noor Chowdhury’s extradition may be declared in September.

In 1976, Noor Chowdhury was deputed to the ministry of foreign affairs and his first post was in Brasilia.

When AL government came to power in 1996, he entered Canada.

During the AL tenure (96-2001), Noor Chowdhury and wife applied for refugee status in Canada but their application was rejected on 1 August, 2002. The following appeal was also dismissed in 2003.

Noor lodged yet another appeal against the dismissal which was also rejected.

In 2006, the Canadian government sent a letter to Bangladesh to send back Noor but due to the government’s indifference, the chance was lost.

When AL came to power in 2008, Noor Chowdhury submitted an application to the office of the attorney general in Canada saying that if returned he will be hanged.

In the last ten years, the Canadian government has neither accepted nor rejected the application and the matter is hanging.

In June, 2018, Bangladesh lodged a writ at the federal court in Canada requesting a final verdict and asking how Noor Chowdhury is residing in Canada.

A hearing on the issue was held in March and a verdict may come in September. The case lodged by Bangladesh is not to bring Noor back but to ascertain his status in Canada, said an official of foreign ministry.

“After we get the verdict, we will move to the next step and if the court refuses to inform of Noor Chowdhury’s status, then we will lodge an appeal; but if the court states his status then we will ask for extradition on grounds of human rights violations.”

The ministry of foreign affairs does not know the whereabouts of four other fugitive killers of Bangabandhu.

Unconfirmed reports say that Risaldar Moslemuddin was seen in Germany but in 2017, Bangladesh embassy in Germany refuted the rumour.

Unverified reports state that other killers, Abdur Rashid and Shariful Huq Dalim were seen in Spain and Pakistan. But again, the embassies in these countries have invalidated such speculation.

The government does not know anything about another killer, Abdul Majid. 

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