DHAKA: Bangladesh police arrested on Thursday a retired military officer accused of involvement in the assassination of former president Ziaur Rahman more than four decades ago, a senior official said.
Ziaur Rahman was killed in 1981 during a military coup. Following his assassination, a martial law court convicted 18 military officers of mutiny, although the defence argued they had not been given a fair trial.
Thirteen of them were then executed by hanging. One of the alleged assassins, Md Mozaffar Hossain, went into hiding immediately after Rahman was killed.
Authorities had offered a reward of $2,000 for information leading to Hossain’s arrest, and on Thursday he was taken into custody.
“Md Mozaffar Hossain had remained a fugitive since 1981 after president Ziaur Rahman was assassinated. We detained him today,” Md Shafiqul Islam, chief of the police’s Detective Branch, said.
