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Motiur Rahman Nizami | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Nizami inc. 2010. | |
| Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami | |
| In office 6 March 2001 – 11 May 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Professor Ghulam Azam |
| Succeeded by | Maqbul Ahmed |
| Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office 10 October 2001 – 22 May 2003 | |
| President | |
| Prime Minister | Khaleda Zia |
| Succeeded by | M. K. Anwar |
| Minister of Industries | |
| In office 22 May 2003 – 28 October 2006 | |
| President | |
| Prime Minister | Khaleda Zia |
| Preceded by | Rezaul Karim Mannan |
| Succeeded by | Tapan Chowdhury(as Adviser) |
| Member of Parliament forPabna-1 | |
| In office 1 October 2001 – 28 October 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Abu Sayeed |
| Succeeded by | Shamsul Hoque Tuku |
| Majority | 135,982 (57.68%) |
| In office 27 February 1991 – 16 February 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Manzur Quader |
| Succeeded by | Abu Sayeed |
| Majority | 55,707 (36.85%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1943-03-31)31 March 1943 |
| Died | 11 May 2016(2016-05-11) (aged 73) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Political party | Jamaat-e-Islami |
| Spouse | Shamsunnahar Nizami |
| Children | 6[1][2] |
| Alma mater | University of Dhaka |
| Profession | Politician, scholar |
Motiur Rahman Nizami (Bengali:মতিউর রহমান নিজামী; 31 March 1943 – 11 May 2016)[3][4] was a politician, former Minister ofBangladesh, Islamic scholar, writer and a formerAmeer ofBangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. He was accused of leadingAl-Badr during theBangladesh War of Independence.[5] On 29 October 2014, he was convicted of masterminding theDemra massacre by theInternational Crimes Tribunal.[6] Nizami was theMember of Parliament fromPabna-1 constituency from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006.[3] He also served as theBangladeshi Minister of Agriculture[7] andMinister of Industry.
While various political entities and international organizations[8] had originally welcomed the trials,[9][10][11] in November 2011,Human Rights Watch criticised the government for aspects of their progress, lack of transparency, and purported harassment of defense lawyers and witnesses representing the accused.[12][13][14] Nizami was the last high-profile suspect to be tried for war crimes of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide; the court delayed his verdict in June 2014 because of the state of his health.[15]
In 2004, Nizami was convicted under separate charges forarms trafficking toAssam, India and was sentenced to death, along with 13 other men in January 2014.[16] On 18 December 2024, the HC acquitted Nizami in the arms smuggling case filed over the sensational 10-truck arms haul in Chattogram, observing that there was nothing in the police report regarding who had smuggled the arms, from whom, and where.[17]
On 29 October 2014, he was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in masterminding theDemra massacre, in which 800–900 unarmedHindu civilians were killed after the women were raped. He was executed byhanging atDhaka Central Jail on 11 May 2016.[18] He is the third minister of Bangladesh to be hanged.[19] He was frequently listed onThe 500 Most Influential Muslims.[20][21]
Maulana Nizami was born inPabna district on 31 March 1943. He completed his primary education in his home village of Manmathpur, and then studied in Boailmari Madrasah, Santhia. He passed the ‘Dakhil’ examination with first class in 1955. Afterwards he stood sixteenth at the ‘Alim’ (equivalent to Matriculation) examination from the then East Pakistan Madrasah Education Board in 1959. Then he passed the ‘Fazil’ (Honours) examination with first class in 1961. He obtained ‘Kamil’ (Masters) in Fiqh (Islamic Law) degree with first class from Madrasah-e-Alia, Dhaka in 1963 where he secured the second place in the Education Board. He also graduated from Dhaka University (DU) in 1967.[3]
Nizami rose in the ranks of theEast Pakistan branch ofJamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in the 1960s, having led the student organization,East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha (nowIslami Chhatra Shibir). After the independence of Bangladesh, the new regime in power banned all religion-based political parties including Jamaat-e-Islami. After theassassination by military officers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975,Ziaur Rahman became president in a coup in 1977. He permitted top Jamaat leaders,[22] such asGhulam Azam and Nizami, to return to Bangladesh in 1978; they revived Jamaat-e-Islami, which became the largest Islamist party in the country. Nizami emerged as a key leader of the Jamaat, organising theIslami Chhatra Shibir, which serves as the student wing of Jamaat.[citation needed]
In 1991, he was elected as aMember of Parliament, representing Jamaat-e-Islami for the constituency ofPabna-1; he was Jamaat's Parliamentary Party leader until 1994.[23] During theJune 1996 elections, he lost to the candidates of both theBangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), an ally of Jamaat, and theAwami League in his constituency. Professor Abu Sayed of the Awami League gained his seat.
In 1971, Nizami was a chief of the infamousAl-Badr militia.[24] Along with the Pakistan Army, this militia abducted andmassacred 989 Bengali intellectuals including professors, journalists, litterateurs, doctors andpro-independence activists in general.[25][26]
Nizami took over as the leader of Jamaat from Ghulam Azam in 2001.[27] In the same year, representing his party as part of a four-party alliance including BNP, Nizami won a seat in Parliament inPabna-1, receiving 57.68% of the votes.[28][29] From 2001 to 2003, he served as the Minister of Agriculture, then as the Minister of Industry from 2003 to 2006.
Nizami was defeated in theDecember 2008 general election as a candidate of the Four-Party Alliance, losing his seat for Pabna-1 to Md. Shamsul Haque of theAwami League. Nizami received 45.6% of the votes. The Awami League took two-thirds of the seats in Parliament.
In May 2008, the Anti-corruption Commission of Bangladesh indicted Nizami in the GATCO Corruption case, in which he along with several other politicians was alleged to have illegally granted a container-depot contract to the local firm GATCO.[30] A warrant was issued to arrest Nizami along with 12 others on 15 May 2008. Nizami was charged with conspiring with 12 other politicians to award the contract to GATCO although the company did not meet the conditions of the tender. The prosecution alleged that the deal with GATCO caused a total loss of more than 100 millionBangladeshi Taka to the Government.[31] Nizami denied the charges and said they were politically motivated.[32] He was released after two months on bail.
In a public speech on 17 March 2010, the Dhaka Jamaat chief, Rafiqul Islam, compared Nizami's life to that of the Islamic prophetMuhammad, persisting in the face of persecution. On 21 March, the Bangladesh Tariqat Federation sued Rafiqul, Nizami and other Jamaat members "for hurting Islamic sentiments of the masses by comparing Nizami with the Prophet".[33]
Nizami, along with three other senior Jamaat leaders, was arrested on charges on 29 March 2010.[34] He secured bail the next day and appealed for dismissal of the case on 14 February 2011. The High Court adjourned the case for four months in March 2011.[34]
On 4 May 2011, Nizami was arrested on allegations of smuggling arms toAssamese insurgents in India in 2004.[35] His bail petition on 7 September 2011 was denied.[36]
On 30 January 2014, Nizami and 13 co-conspirators were sentenced to death by hanging after being found guilty of smuggling arms.[37] On 18 December 2024, the HC acquitted Nizami in the arms smuggling case filed over the sensational 10-truck arms haul in Chattogram, observing that there was nothing in the police report regarding who had smuggled the arms, from whom, and where.[38]
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In 2009, theAwami League-led regime established a tribunal in Bangladesh to investigate those suspected of committing atrocities during the war in 1971. Nizami and eight other leaders ofJamaat-e-Islami were charged with war crimes by the prosecution, as were two leaders of theBangladesh Nationalist Party. Opposition parties and human rights groups alleged political interference in the trial, given that all the accused were leading opposition politicians.[39] Nizami was the last high-profile suspect to be tried for 1971 war crimes; the court delayed his verdict in June 2014 because of the state of his health.[15] On 29 October 2014, it was announced that Nizami had been sentenced to death for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.[6]
On 11 May 2016, Nizami washanged atDhaka Central Jail, just days after the nation's highest court dismissed his final appeal to overturn the death sentence for atrocities committed during the country's 1971 war. He was hanged just before midnight (1800 GMT) after he refused to seek mercy from thePresident of Bangladesh. He was executed between 11:50 pm and 12:01 am midnight.[40] He was buried at his family's home in northern Bangladesh.[41]
Pakistan: Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement the following: "Pakistan is deeply saddened over the hanging of the emir of Jamaat-i-Islami Bangladesh, Mr Motiur Rahman Nizami, for the alleged crimes committed before December 1971. His only sin was upholding the constitution and laws of Pakistan”.[42]
Turkey: Turkey condemned execution of Motiur Rahman Nizami[43] and withdrew Turkish Ambassador from Bangladesh.[44]
Amnesty International: "Motiur Rahman Nizami, the current chief of Bangladeshi political party Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail today. He was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh in October 2014 after he was convicted of charges relating murder, torture, rape and the mass killing of intellectuals during Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971. We are dismayed that Bangladeshi authorities have executed Motiur Rahman Nizami. The victims of the horrific events of the 1971 Liberation War are entitled to justice, but taking another life is not the answer", said Champa Patel,Amnesty International's Director of the South Asia Regional Office. "The death penalty is always a human rights violation, but its use is even more troubling when the execution follows a flawed process. There are serious questions about the fairness of Motiur Rahman Nizami's trial – and of proceedings before the ICT more generally – that have not been addressed. Victims of past atrocities deserve better than a flawed process. The victims of the horrific events of the 1971 Liberation War are entitled to justice, but taking another life is not the answer."
Patel added, "We urge the Bangladeshi authorities to join most of the world by turning its back on this cruel and irreversible punishment, and impose a moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty with a view to its eventual repeal. The government has a duty to ensure accountability for war crimes, and it is positive that the Bangladeshi authorities are taking steps in this direction. But many credible organizations including Amnesty International and the UN have raised serious and important issues around the fairness of the ICT trials which have not been addressed. Today’s decision comes at a politically sensitive time for Bangladesh, and all sides must ensure calm prevails across the country. Security forces should ensure that the right to peaceful protest is respected, while political leaders on all sides should call on their supporters to refrain from human rights abuses".[45][46]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Ameer ofJamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh 2001–2016 | Succeeded by |
