Efforts on to bring him hack to Bangladesh: Shahriar Alam
Abu Sufian: Mohamed Khairuzzaman, former Bangladesh high commissioner, who was held by Malaysian authorities on Wednesday, is still under the custody of the country’s immigration police detention centre for questioning, a senior official of an international human rights organisation has said.
The official, who preferred not to be named, told the Business Insider Bangladesh though Malaysia has a rule to send a detained individual to the court within 24 hours of arrest, the former diplomat has not been taken to court until Thursday evening.
Therefore, the former envoy may end up staying in the detention centre until the next working day.
Khairuzzaman, also a retired major and a former Bangladesh high commissioner to Malaysia, was detained from his residence in the Ampang area of Malaysia’s Selangor state on Wednesday.
His detention came to light after the Business Insider Bangladesh broke the news on Wednesday night.
The news was then published in several media outlets in Bangladesh and Malaysia on Thursday.
Malaysian Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin told the media on Thursday morning that the former diplomat had been arrested at the request of the Bangladesh government.
Following the detention, Khairuzzaman’s lawyers issued a legal notice to the Malaysian authorities seeking his release.
Demanding his immediate release, the notice said, “A Bangladeshi national named Mohammad Khairuzzaman (UNHCR No 354-10C02267) has been detained by the Malaysian Immigration Department without any valid reason.”
Khairuzzaman’s United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card was also attached to the legal notice.
The notice, written in Bahasa Malaysia, also said Khairuzzaman has the right to stay in Malaysia as a UNHCR cardholder.
The legal notice also gave a 24-hour ultimatum for the release of Khairuzzaman. However, Malaysian authorities did not respond to the legal notice until filing this report.
Meanwhile, Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, said that steps are being taken to bring Khairuzzaman back to Bangladesh.
He said Khairuzzaman has been detained for breaching immigration rules and is now kept at a deportation centre.
But Shahriar said he is not sure which section of the immigration law Khairuzzaman has breached.
“As far as I understand, there is an opportunity to physically interrogate him again and further investigate the case. The law ministry can better comment on the matter. We are trying to bring him back to the country as soon as possible,” he said.
Shahriar Alam said, “We will bring Khairuzzaman back in the same process we brought other expatriate Bangladeshis who committed a crime.”
Khairuzzaman has been living here for more than a decade, according to Malaysia’s The Star.com.
Khairuzzaman, charged in 1975 Jail Killing case and later acquitted, was appointed the ambassador to Malaysia in 2007.
After assuming office, the Sheikh Hasina-led government in January 2009 had recalled him to Dhaka and revoked his Bangladesh passport.
Assuming the imminent risk to his life Khairuzzaman approached the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur and obtained an identity card to continue his stay in Malaysia.
After the brutal jail killings, Khairuzzaman was transferred from the army to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and posted to the Bangladesh Embassy in Cairo in 1976. He served there until 1983.
Later, during the 1996-2001 period of Sheikh Hasina-led government, Khairuzzaman was charged in the Jail Killing case.
He was accused of being involved in the assassination of four national leaders — Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman — on November 3, 1975.
Khairuzzaman was arrested in June 1996 and was sent on forced retirement on September 24 the same year. Prior to his arrest and retirement, he served as acting ambassador in Manila.
Later, during the premiership of Khaleda Zia from 2001 to 2006 period, Khairuzzaman was released on bail.
He was reinstated as director general in the foreign ministry on May 4, 2003.
Along with Khairuzzaman, the late BNP leaders KM Obaidur Rahman, Shah Moazzem Hossain and Nurul Islam Manzur were acquitted by a court in 2004 of murder charges in the Jail Killing case.
After his release, Khairuzzaman was promoted to the post of additional secretary. He was then appointed ambassador to Myanmar and served there from September 2005 to August 2006.
He was again promoted to the full secretary in August 2007 and was appointed high commissioner to Malaysia with the rank and status of a first-class ambassador.
