Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury

Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury (; (13 March 1949 – 22 November 2015) was a Bangladeshi politician and minister, a six-term member of the Jatiya Sangsad, and a member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee. He served as a minister in two ministries under the Ershad ministry, and later served as the Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia from 2001 to 2006. He was the son of late Convention Muslim League leader A.K.M. Fazlul Quader Chowdhury.

On , 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. However, limitations placed on his defense testimony were called "disturbing" by some observers. He was from a political family of Raozan Upazila in erstwhile East Pakistan. His father, Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, was a Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly and Acting President of Pakistan from time to time before the independence of Bangladesh. and of the standing committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Chowdhury was a seven-term Member of Parliament, generally representing Rangunia and/or Boalkhali Upazilas, starting with constituency Chittagong-7 in 1979. He was elected for Chittagong-6 in 1986 and 1991. He was elected for Chittagong-7 again in 1996, He ran a failed campaign to be elected secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Conference. Opposition member of parliament, Shuranjit Sengupta, demanded the resignation of M Morshed Khan over the failed bid and in response Chowdhury said, "He should at first be circumcised before commenting on an Islamic organisation like the OIC. If he does that I will support his demand for the foreign minister's resignation,". Chowdhury's final term, to which he was elected in 2008, was for Chittagong-2. where he was reportedly tortured. The trial for his involvement in the 1971 Bangladesh genocide were due to begin in August 2011.

War crime charges Among the charges submitted against Chowdhury in the International Crimes Tribunal were: Abduction of 7 Hindus and killing 6 of them on 4–5 April 1971 in Matilal House. Accompanying Pakistan army at the time of killing Maddhya Gohira Hindu Parha in Raozan on 13 April 1971. Kundeshwari, Killing of Nutan Chandra on April 13 Jagatmalla Para Mass Killings on April 13 Sultanpur Mass Killing on April 13 Unosottor Para Mass Killing on April 13 Raozan Municipality Killing (Satish Chandra) on April 14 Mozaffar Ahmed (with son) ACTM (abduction confinement torture and murder) on April 17 Murder, loot, rape at Manik Dhar’s house After April 13

Trial During Chowdhury's trial the prosecution summoned 41 witnesses to testify while four were called in his defense. Commenting on the trial, the former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, said that it was "disturbing" that limitations were placed on defense testimony. Affidavits stating that Chowdhury was in Pakistan and studying law at the University of Punjab at the time of the crimes were not considered.

Conviction On 1 October 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh sentenced Chowdhury to death by hanging for nine out of the 23 charges brought against him. On 18 November 2015, Bangladesh Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of Chowdhury, upholding the death sentence.

Execution On 22 November 2015, at 12:45 in the morning, Chowdhury was executed by hanging at Dhaka Central Jail. Another convict, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, was also executed around the same time. Law Minister Anisul Huq claimed that Chowdhury and Mojaheed submitted a plea for mercy, which Chowdhury's family denied. Chowdhury was buried at his village home in Raozan Upazila, Chittagong on 22 November 2015.

Personal life Chowdhury was married to Farhat Quader Chowdhury. In August 2016, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International alleged that Hummam was arrested on 4 August 2016, and disappeared. Amnesty says multiple credible sources place him at Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) headquarters in Dhaka on 12 August, but authorities have denied having him in custody. Hummam returned home in March 2017. Hummam is married to the granddaughter of industrialist A. K. Khan.

Chowdhury's brother, Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury, was a member of parliament from Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Other two brothers were Saifuddin and Jamaluddin. Hasina said that she couldn't attend the wedding due to security concerns after the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack. There were accusations that Salahuddin was involved in the grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina, to which Salahuddin replied that had he been behind the attack, the grenade wouldn't have missed Hasina.

Wealth The QC family is one of the wealthiest families in Bangladesh. His wealth was estimated to be around Tk. 1,000 crore. He owned a house in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area located on Road 10/A. He also owned his family's historic house located on Goods Hill in Rahmatganj (Chittagong) and three other houses in the Gohira village of Raozan Upazila, where he also owned hundreds of acres of land. Salahuddin and his brothers owned the QC Group based in Chittagong. The QC Group consists of:

QC Shipping Ltd. QC Container Line Ltd. QC Logistics Ltd. QC Navigation Ltd. QC Feeders Ltd. QC Shipping Pte. Ltd. (domiciled in Singapore) Eastern Maritime Ltd. QC Trading Ltd. QC Petroleum Ltd. QC Estate Ltd QC Holdings Ltd. QC Properties Ltd. QC Enterprises Ltd. The Dacca Dyeing & Manufacturing Co. Ltd. The Dacca Yarn Dyeing Ltd. Unitrend Ltd. (Bangladeshi representative of international PR firm McCann Erickson) Focus Multimedia Ltd. (holding company of CSB News & Radio Aamar)

Alleged Singapore account In 2020, the Anti-Corruption Commission (Bangladesh) traced multiple accounts to Singapore which contained a combined 1 billion USD. The money was laundered there by a Bangladeshi citizen. An ACC official told the Daily Sun newspaper that the money belonged to Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.