RU removes images of Nizami, Sayeedi and other executed war crimes convicts from billboard after student protests
The billboard, installed two days earlier under the title 'Judicial Killing,' was put up by Nabho Culture, an organisation led by Rucsu GS Salahuddin Ammar.
The Rajshahi University (RU) authorities last night (2 August) removed from a billboard images of individuals executed after being convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War, following student protests.
RU Proctor Prof Md Mahbubor Rahman said the administration had asked Rucsu General Secretary Salahuddin Ammar to remove the billboard in response to the students' demands, but he declined.
The university administration subsequently removed the images from the billboard last night.
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The billboard, installed on Friday under the title "Judicial Killing," was put up by Nabho Culture, an organisation led by Rajshahi University Central Students' Union (Rucsu) GS Salahuddin Ammar.
It displayed photographs of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Mir Quasem Ali, Abdul Quader Mollah and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, along with BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury – all of them convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War and subsequently executed.
Several student organisations launched a protest yesterday afternoon, demanding the billboard's removal.
At around 10:45pm, the administration accepted their demand, prompting the protesters to withdraw their demonstration. The images were removed later that night.
Sadeq Rahman, a student in the Department of Theatre, alleged that the billboard was part of an effort to "normalise" individuals identified as collaborators during the Liberation War.
He said the protesters withdrew their programme following the administration's assurance and warned that they would announce further action if it failed to fulfil its promise.
Fuad Ratul, convener of the university unit of the Socialist Students' Front, said any attempt to rehabilitate or normalise individuals convicted of war crimes was unacceptable.
"The issue of war crimes is a fundamental national issue. The 2024 uprising or opposition to Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian rule cannot be used as a pretext to promote war-crime ideology or rehabilitate those associated with it," he said.
