A group of army men gunned down Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of Bangladesh government in exile, Tajuddin Ahmed, prime minister, M Mansur Ali, finance minister, and AHM Qamaruzzaman, home, relief and rehabilitation minister, in Dhaka Central Jail on this day in 1975. The day is known as Jail Killing Day.

A Dhaka court on October 20 handed down death sentence to three, life imprisonment to 12 and acquitted five in the long-awaited verdict of the historic Jail Killing Case. Families of the leaders, however, rejected the verdict and termed it politically motivated and a farce.

Ruling BNP lawmaker KM Obaidur Rahman, Shah Moazzem Hossain, Nurul Islam Manzoor, Taheruddin Thakur and Additional Foreign Secretary Khairuzzaman, freed on bail immediately after the ruling coalition took office, were cleared of the charges.

The AL alleges that the government interfered in the trial for the gruesome murders of the four leaders who spearheaded the Bangladesh government in exile during the War of Independence.

The killing of four close aides to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came two months and 18 days after Bangabandhu along with most of his family was assassinated by some disgruntled army men out to eliminate the leadership that guided Bangladesh during the war.

A murder case was filed with Lalbagh Police Station the following day of the killing, but the then government halted the process of trial by promulgating an ordinance that indemnified the assassins.

The BNP-led government reinstated Major (retd) Khairuzzaman in his foreign ministry job last year, while Obaidur, Manzoor and Moazzem secured bail after the coalition took office.

Of the convicts, three with death sentence and nine with life term are on the run. Three others with life imprisonment are in jail and as many of the 23 accused died during investigation.

The AL will hoist the national and party flags at half-mast and black flags at party offices in Dhaka and elsewhere in observance of the Jail Killing Day.

Leaders and workers of the AL and its front organisations will wear black badge to in a show of mourning.

The day's programmes also include garlanding the portrait of Bangabandhu, placing wreaths at the graves of the national leaders at Banani Graveyard and offering fateha and organising milad mahfils and special prayers.

The party will also hold a discussion at the Auditorium of the Institution of Engineers at 11:00am tomorrow, which senior AL leaders will address.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil in a statement yesterday urged party leaders and workers to observe the Jail Killing Day programmes in a befitting manner.

In a message issued on the occasion, Leader of the Opposition and AL President Sheikh Hasina said, "The sacrifice of the four national leaders would never go in vain. It will continue inspiring people forever."

"The judgement of the case delivered on October 20 is not a verdict delivered out of the judge's conscience, rather one directed by the government," reads the message.

"The trial was influenced by reinstating and promoting an accused on trial before the verdict. There are reasons to believe that the trial was reduced to a farce to save the self-declared killers. It has been proved again that the rule of law has been threatened because of the misrule of the alliance government."