Rouben’s reply to Sajeeb Wazed, the grandson of slain Prime Minister Mujibur Rahman

From One Son to Another

Dear Sajeeb,

I read your interview in the LA Times and, I must first say, my heart goes out to you and all the members of your family who lost loved ones on the night of the military coup on August 15th, 1975. Many innocent people were killed that dark night, including women and children, and these killings were not justified in any way. But now another innocent life is about to be lost and his death will not be justified either. That man is my father, Mohiuddin AKM Ahmed.

You and I were both very young children on that tragic night, a night that destroyed much of your family and a night that is currently destroying mine. Therefore, neither of us really knows what happened when your grandfather’s house was stormed by over 100 soldiers 36 years
ago.

And since the killings that occurred that night were never investigated until twenty-one years after the military coup, we may never know the full truth.

You grew up hearing only one story about that military coup. You, and much of current Bangladesh, was told that a few disgruntled junior officers snuck into your grandfather’s house and systematically killed every one they could.

Well, I think even you would have to agree this scenario is impossible. You, yourself, know your grandfather had a private army that shot back at the 100+ soldiers who entered that home. I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that there were so many bullets flying that dark night; shot by soldiers wearing the standard Bengali black uniform, that it is impossible to tell who was shooting whom.

But what is clear to me is that my father was not one of those soldiers shooting. At the time of the coup my father was following orders and manning a roadblock in the city over a mile away from your grandfather’s house.

Sajeeb….do you not find it odd that after the coup my father was able to have a 20-year diplomatic career, honorably serving Bangladesh, in five foreign countries? My father faithfully represented Bangladesh as a diplomat under eight successive Bangladeshi administrations, including governments influenced by your own Awami League political party. How is it possible for my father to be able to do that if he was the assassin of your family? For 20 years, eight Bangladeshi governments were all able to do a complete background check on my father and say to his hosting countries: Mohiuddin AKM Ahmed is an honorable man. They were able to do so because my father is not the demon you portray him to be.

I know that eyewitnesses in the in absentia trial for my father in 1996 testified that they saw him in the president’s home 21 years earlier. But you know, as well as I do, that 21 years after fact eyewitness testimony is totally unreliable. And, sadly, we both know, eyewitness testimony can be easily bought in our home country. Eyewitnesses can even be intimidated into testifying the false truth. One should not be swayed by self-serving and tutored witnesses. It is my understanding, that many of the ‘witnesses’ were not even present in the palace on the night of the coup. People who were not even in the army at the time of the coup testified they saw my father shooting in the palace. How is that even possible? I would also like to add that there was never any physical evidence placing my father in that house on that night.

You also know, as well as I do, when your mother’s political party appointed the judges in my father’s case, and selected his defense attorney, my father never had a chance. The verdict of death was a 100% certainty before the first day in court in 1996. And now, in 2007, I’m sure the same would be true. After eleven years of propaganda against my father, I’m sure he still wouldn’t get a fair trial in such a highly charged politically orchestrated case.

I’m sorry for your loss. I truly am, but killing an innocent man like my father, will not bring your family back nor serve justice.

Please, let’s not compound one tragedy with another.

Rouben Mohiuddin April 2007