May 18, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423

DHAKA, May 17: A man convicted for murdering two close relatives was executed in a prison in northern Bangladesh after his appeal against the death sentence to the Supreme Court was turned down, making it the first officially sanctioned execution in the country in 14 years.

The death sentence passed on Mofazzal Hossain for murdering his uncle and the latter’s pregnant wife in 1995 by a district court was carried out overnight by hanging inside a prison in Rajshahi city 340 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka.

Hossain, 45, is the first convicted prisoner in northern Bangladesh to die at the gallows since 1988 when the last execution had taken place inside Rajshahi prison.

The death by hanging early Thursday was witnessed by prison wardens, police and government doctors. A mercy petition on Hossain’s behalf to the Head of State was also summarily rejected.

The death penalty exists in Bangladesh as maximum punishment for offences like murder, sedition, drug trafficking and acid throwing.—dpa