Saka Chowdhury
| Former Minister |
| Politician |
Full Name: Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury
Affiliation: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
Position: Mamber, National Standing Committee
Date of Birth: March 13, 1949
Date of Death: November 22, 2015 (Death executed by hanging)
Place of Birth: Bangladesh
Home District: Chittagong
Constituency: 273, 283 & 284, Chittagong-2, 6 & 7
Term: Sixth (2nd-1979, 3rd-1986, 5th-1991, 7th-1996, 8th-2001, 9th-2008)
Nationality: Bangladeshi
Profile:
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury popularly known as Saka Chowdhury (13 March 1949 – 22 November 2015) was a Bangladeshi politician, former minister and six-term member of Bangladesh National Parliament. He was also a member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee, who served as the adviser of parliamentary affairs to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in from 2001 to 2006. On 1 October 2013 he was convicted of 9 of 23 charges and sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh for crimes during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. He was put to death by hanging in Dhaka on 22 November 2015.
Saha was from a political family of Raozan Upazila in erstwhile East Pakistan. His father, Fazlul Quader Chowdhury (Foka Chowdhury) was a Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly and Acting President of Pakistan from time to time before the independence of Bangladesh. He was the eldest among the six siblings. He received his education from the boarding school, Sadiq Public School at Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Saka was a member of the Bangladesh National Parliament. He was served as a lawmaker for six consecutive terms- in 1979 (Muslim League), 1986 (Jatiya Party), 1991 (National Democratic Party), 1996, 2001 and 2008 (BNP). His final term, to which he was elected in 2008, was for Chittagong-2.
Saka was arrested 2011 from his "safe house" in Dhanmondi and questioned by the special branch of police, where he was reportedly tortured. The trial for his involvements in the 1971 Bangladesh genocide were due to begin in August 2011.
On 1 October 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh sentenced Saka to death by hanging for nine out of the 23 charges brought against him. His party BNP argued that the trial is politically motivated. On 18 November 2015, Bangladesh Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of Saka, upholding the death sentence. According to jail officials, Chowdhury asked for mercy in a petition to the President of Bangladesh, but his appeal was rejected.
On 22 November 2015, at 12:45 in the morning, Chowdhury was executed by hanging at Dhaka Central Jail.
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