In an unusual turn of events, a Bangladeshi inmate got his sentence reduced by four years and four months for hanging 26 people during his time in jail.
Shahjahan Bhuiyan was put behind bars in 1979 as he was on his way to the capital from Narsingdi, and sentenced to 42 years in prison for murder, but he served four years and four months less by carrying out executions of 26 fellow inmates.
According to the prison authority, Bhuiyan was reportedly given 42 years of jail time, including a 12-year sentence in a robbery case with financial penalty of Tk5,000, a life term imprisonment in another robbery, and murder case where he was also fined Tk5,000.
The 74-year-old inmate received two months’ commutation for each execution, which, along with his good behavior, reduced his sentence by almost a decade.
Bhuiyan became a hangman at Dhaka Central Prison in 2001, after informing prison officials that he knew how to handle a rope.
“I had a good time,” Bhuiyan told reporters as he exited Dhaka Central Prison. “I served a prison term for a long time, but the authorities ensured my comfort and honored me.”
Among the Bhuiyan’s victims during his stint as executioner were Islamist leader Ali Ahsan Mujahid, Siddique Islam, known as Bangla Bhai, an Islamist leader of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh organization, and military officers found guilty of plotting a 1975 coup and of assassinating Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader.
“If I didn’t hang them, someone else would have, Bhuiyan explained. “Even if I feel sympathy for them, as a convict, I have to do it. I did not order the hangings, the State ordered me to do it.”
With no family or relatives to return to, Bhuiyan said he would live with a former inmate that he had befriended in prison.
“I need a home as I have no place to stay. I urge the prime minister to kindly provide me with a home or shelter. I only have my sister and nephew, but we have lost contact for a long time now. With nowhere else to go, I fear I will have to rely on the kindness of others to provide me with a place to stay,” Bhuiyan said while speaking to journalists at the jail gate on Sunday (18 June).
He went on to say, “I want to live the rest of my life in peace.”
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