Three Bangladeshis were sentenced to death in their...

Three Bangladeshis were sentenced to death in their absence for their part in the 1975 "Jail Killings" of four people seen as heroes of the independence struggle. Twelve others were jailed for life, nine of them in their absence, and five were acquitted.
The three to be hanged were Muslemuddin, Marfat Ali Shah and Abul Hashem Mridha.
"It is a great irony that those who played such a vital role in the independence of Bangladesh came to be killed by citizens of an independent Bangladesh," said Judge Matiur Rahman.
The four close associates of Bangladesh's first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were shot at close range inside Dhaka Central Jail before dawn on November 3, 1975.
The killings took place soon after Sheikh Mujib, who had led a bloody struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971, was assassinated in a coup along with more than 20 members of his family.
Twenty-one politicians and army officers were charged in 1975 with the jail murders but one has since died.
Of the 20 defendants still alive, three were in custody for their role in the assassination of Sheikh Mujib and five were on bail. The remaining 12 were believed to have fled the country and were tried in their absence.
The five who were on bail were all acquitted.
No action was taken for many years in the case but it was revived in 1996 when Sheikh Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed, leader of the Awami League party, became prime minister.
The assassination of Sheikh Mujib, who had tried to turn Bangladesh into a one-party state, was followed by 15 years of political instability punctuated by coups and episodes of martial law and military rule.
Although democracy was restored in 1990, politics was dominated by the rivalry between the leaders of the two main parties.