Tofayel Ahmed Joseph, a ‘top-listed terrorist’ of the 1990s, has been released from prison after the president pardoned him.
“He was released on Sunday afternoon after the documents reached us,” Jahangir Kabir, the senior superintendent of the Dhaka Central Jail told Bangla Tribune on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal confirmed that his mercy petition to the president was granted.
“Joseph was sentenced to 20 years in jail. A little over a year was left out of his term,” he told the media at his office after a meeting with US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat.
“He had filed for presidential clemency for the remaining time and paid some financial penalty. His petition said he would travel abroad for medical treatment. As far as I know, the president pardoned him.”
His remarks came responding to query from journalists after a media report on Wednesday suggested Joseph has left the country following his release.
Kamal, however, evaded a direct answer on whether he has been released from jail.
In December 2015, the Supreme Court commuted Joseph’s death sentence to life in prison in the 1996 murder of Freedom Party leader Mustafizur Rahman.
Joseph was arrested nearly 20 years ago. He had been accused of several charges, among which were extortion, murder and possession of illegal arms.
In 2001, when the Four-party Alliance led by the BNP took office, the government listed 23 criminals as top terrorists. Joseph was among them.
Son of former Bangladesh Air Force officer Wadud Ahmed, Joseph was born and brought up in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur neighbourhood.
His brother Haris Ahmed, a fugitive and also convicted in the Freedom Party leader murder, was also named in the list.
Another of his siblings, Sayeed Ahmed Tipu was shot dead by terrorists in the 1990s.
Their elder brother Aziz Ahmed, a lieutenant general of the Bangladesh Army, had served as the director general of Border Guard Bangladesh.