The delayed murder trial began in 1996, more than two decades after the August 15, 1975 assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while the trial court came with its verdict on November 8 in 1998 a judgment that the world media had welcomed as the victory of justice.

The newspapers in the region and beyond had termed the trial as the gradual transformation of the country's politics to a more civilized nature which could also help the nation to overcome a stigma. The Dubai-based Gulf News, which is believed to have a wide audience in the Muslim world, carried an editorial on November 10 titled "To serve justice". It said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had "every right to seek justice against the officers who killed her father and family some 23 years ago". "But the fact that she relied upon the court system and rule of law to pursue them does good for all of Bangladesh," it read.The newspaper wrote the decision of the Dhaka's court "finding 15 former military officers guilty of assassinating Bangladesh's founding father President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family must be applauded".

Another major newspaper, the UAE-based The Khaleez Times, carried an editorial analysis titled "Unburied Crimes and Punishment" saying if the 60's and 70's were time of military coups and "dirty wars", then the 90's can rightly be called the decade of accountability. The newspaper said the November 8 verdict by a Dhaka court entencing 15 former army officers to death signals the entry of Bangladesh into a select group of nations that have come to terms with a painful past through a process of judicial inquiry. Leading Pakistani daily The Muslim wrote "the Dacca (Dhaka) judgment will no doubt, be received well by those who believe in democracy and in accountability. "The important thing, however, is that Bangladesh has refused to live with unresolved political crimes and controversies and this should serve the country enormously well," it wrote.

Prestigious Indian daily The Asian Age observed that even murder trials are subject to the political will while the 148-day trial resulting in death sentences to ex-military officials accused of assassinating Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is a clear demonstration to this. "For 23 years after the coup, Bangladesh government dragged their feet in bringing the guilty task. Instead, many of the accused were sent out to diplomatic assignments and were able to evade the legal dragnet simply because of political support," it wrote. "The present (previous 1996-2001) government led by Sheikh Hasina has pursued the case with the result that the guilty have been sentenced to death by the district and sessions judge court," it wrote.

-The Independent