President pardons murder convict Joseph

President Abdul Hamid has pardoned Tofayel Ahmed Joseph, a 'top terror' of the 1990s, who had been serving life imprisonment in a murder case, reports UNB.

"The President has granted the mercy petition filed by Joseph. He was ill. He was granted clemency for his treatment," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. He was talking to reporters at his office on Wednesday.

Asked whether he was aware that Joseph has already left the country after his release from jail, the minister parried the question.

He said, "He was sentenced to life imprisonment. He had already served 20 years and filed the mercy petition following the due process."

In reply to another query that Joseph fled to India, he made a counter question, saying, "Did you see him going to India?

"He cited his serious illness in the mercy petition and sought clemency for the rest one year and three months of imprisonment. The President has probably granted the mercy petition," the Home Minister added.

Joseph was released from Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj on Sunday following the presidential mercy, said its jailer Mahbub Alam.

Earlier on December 09, 2015, the Appellate Division commuted Joseph's death penalty to life imprisonment in the now-defunct Freedom Party leader Mostafizur Rahman murder case.

The apex court had also acquitted another accused of the case, Kabil Sarkar, after granting his petition.

On May 07, 1996 Freedom Party leader of city's Mohammadpur area Mostafizur Rahman was shot dead by some unknown assailants. Victim's wife Rashida Parvin filed a case the following day.