ZAB among handful of rulers who were hanged till death

Although dozens of presidents, prime ministers, army rulers, kings and queens have been beheaded and killed by firing squads etc, since the execution of King Charles I in 1649, by their political foes or at the behest of their adversaries for a wide range of crimes they had allegedly committed, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928-1979), is among the handful of rulers who were actually given death by hanging. 

Exactly 38 years ago today on April 4, 1979, former Pakistani premier and head of state, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged till death on what could easily be dubbed “controversial orders” of the Pakistani Supreme Court, making the prestigious The New York Times comment: “The way they did it, (Bhutto).. is going to grow into a legend that will someday backfire”. 

After following the entire chronological events surrounding Bhutto’s trial during Gen Ziaul Haq’s rule, The New York Times had published the above-cited prophecy on the same day Bhutto was executed. 

Some other rulers who were sent to the gallows: Former Turkish premier, Adnan Menderes (1899-1961), was hanged by his country’s military junta after the 1960 coup.  Along with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Turgut Ozal, Menderes is also one of the three political leaders of the Turkish Republic to have a mausoleum built in his honour. 

Former Japanese premier, Hideki Tojo (1884-1948), was responsible for ordering the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, which had triggered war between Japan and the United States. After the end of the war, Tojo was arrested, sentenced to death for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and finally hanged. 

Former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein (1937-2006), was hanged on December 30, 2006 for crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shia Muslims. 

Other famous and notorious people who were hanged till death in history: Bangladeshi Islamist leader and politician of the Jamaat-e-Islami in former East Pakistan, Abdul Qadir Molla, was charged with rape and mass murder, and eventually hanged on December 12, 2013. 

Ali Hassan al-Majid (also known as Chemical Ali), chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, military commander, cousin of Saddam Hussein, was hanged on January 25, 2010. 

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, half brother of Saddam Hussein, was hanged for crimes against humanity on January 15, 2007. The rope had decapitated him because wrong measurements were used in conjunction with how far he was dropped from the platform. 

Ghazi Ilm-ud-din Shaheed (December 1908 – 1929), the young Muslim who murdered a Hindu book publisher named Mahashe Rajpal on Ganpat Road, Lahore, for publishing a blasphemous book, was hanged at Central Jail Mianwali on October 31, 1929. 

Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had consented to be Ghazi Ilm-ud-din’s defence lawyer on a special request from Allama Iqbal, who had campaigned to have the body of Ilm Din returned to Lahore for funeral as Ilmud Din had been buried by the jail authorities without any funeral prayers. 

Only after Allama Iqbal gave his assurance to the British that no riots would erupt, the permission was granted by the British Raj.  When the body of Ilm Din was exhumed from its grave, it was found to be intact without any change whatsoever. The shroud had not changed its colour. This occurred on November 14, 1929 — a full 15 days after the hanging. 

After a two-day journey, the body arrived in Lahore. Muslims from the whole city and millions from adjoining areas attended his funeral. Ilmuddin’s father requested Allama Muhammad Iqbal to lead the funeral prayers and this shivered Allama Iqbal, who replied that I am a sinful person not competent to do this job to lead the funeral prayers of such a matchless warrior. Around 200,000 Muslims attended the funeral prayers which were led by Imam of Masjid Wazeer Khan, Imam Muhammad Shamsuddin. 

Celebrated journalist Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Dr MD Taseer (late Salman Taseer’s father) had also attended the funeral. MD Taseer had provided the death-bed to Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed. 

In March 2016, late Punjab Governor Salman Taseer’s killer Mumtaz Qadri was hanged at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. 

Qadri had shot Salman Taseer 28 times in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market on January 4, 2011. 

Omar Al-Mukhtar (1858-1931), who had struggled against the Italian colonial rule in Libya, was captured and hanged in September 1931 on the orders of the Italian court and with Italian hopes that Libyan resistance would die with him. Mukhtar was hanged before his followers at the age of 73. 

Afzal Guru, an Indian convicted for the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, was hanged on February 9, 2013. 

Ajmal Kasab, the man behind the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, was hanged on November 21, 2012. 

Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, was hanged on November 15, 1949 along with an accomplice, Narayan Apte. Renowned Indian revolutionary, Bhagat Singh, was hanged at Shadman Lahore on March 19, 1931. 

Another eminent Indian revolutionary, Udham Singh, was hanged by the British Empire on July 31, 1940. 

In May 2015, notorious MQM target killer Saulat Mirza was hanged in Mach Jail. Mirza, who was convicted of killing Karachi Electric Supply Company’s managing director Shahid Hamid, his guard and driver, in Karachi, had his execution deferred twice before. 

Prior to the execution, he was inspected by a doctor and given a clean bill of health. He was then led to the gallows and was hanged under the supervision of a magistrate. 

Vladimir Lenin’s brother and famous Russian revolutionary, Aleksandr Ulyanov, was sent to the gallows on May 8, 1887 for a plot to murder Tsar (Emperor) Alexander III. Thug Behram, the ‘King of the Thugs’ was executed in 1840 by the British. 

Behram was a leader of the Thuggee (deceivers) cult active in Oudh in northern central India during the late 18th and early 19th century, and is often cited as one of the world’s most prolific serial killers. According to police reports of the time, he might have been involved in up to 931 murders between 1790 and 1840. He used to kill victims by strangulation, a method performed with a ceremonial cloth, used by his cult. Behram was caught by a British Army officer, Sir William Henry Sleeman, who had initiated an extensive campaign in February 1839. During these operations, more than 1400 thugs were arrested and hanged. 

nor-latin;color:black; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>s most prolific serial killers. According to police reports of the time, he might have been involved in up to 931 murders between 1790 and 1840. He used to kill victims by strangulation, a method performed with a ceremonial cloth, used by his cult. Behram was caught by a British Army officer, Sir William Henry Sleeman, who had initiated an extensive campaign in February 1839. During these operations, more than 1400 thugs were arrested and hanged.