BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said former Jamaat-e-Islami amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, its leader Mir Quasem Ali and former BNP standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, have been sentenced to death in false cases.
He described the death sentences as politically motivated and called it a “shameful chapter” in Bangladesh’s history.
Speaking as chief guest at the 21st founding anniversary celebration of the daily Naya Diganta at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Saturday, Fakhrul alleged that “false cases” were used to eliminate political opponents during the previous regime.
“The nation has not forgotten the fascist government’s repression of pro-democratic forces,” he said. “Nearly six million of our workers were implicated in fabricated cases, and more than 20,000 leaders and activists were either murdered or forcibly disappeared.”
He specifically named Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, Naya Diganta founder Mir Quasem Ali, and former BNP standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury—figures executed in war crimes and other cases—as “scholars” who were “sentenced to death in false cases.”
Fakhrul’s remarks come amid heightened political tensions ahead of the next national elections, with the BNP continuing to demand a return to a non-partisan caretaker government system to oversee polls—a demand the ruling Awami League has consistently rejected.
Iterating his party’s vision, Fakhrul said, “The people of Bangladesh want an independent and democratic state—one not controlled by any foreign power, but governed by the will of the people.”
He also drew historical parallels, recalling the suppression of press freedom under the BKSAL regime in 1975. “Journalists lost their jobs, many were forced to work on the streets,” he said, crediting former President Ziaur Rahman with restoring media freedom and establishing multi-party democracy.
On the current political climate, Fakhrul urged all parties to “board the election train” and avoid escalating violence or polarisation. “Bangladesh will move forward only through acceptable elections,” he asserted. “Only if elections are held at the right time can we return to a truly democratic system.”
His speech underscores the BNP’s ongoing campaign to position itself as the vanguard of democratic restoration, even as it faces legal and organisational challenges that have weakened its street presence in recent years.