An inmate in Bangladesh sparked controversy in his own country after being released four years and four months earlier for hanging 26 people during his time in prison.

in 1991, Shahjahan Bhuiyan was sentenced to 42 years in prison for murder, but he served four years and four months less by carrying out executions of 26 fellow inmates during his time in prison. The 74-year-old man received two months’ commutation for each execution, which, coupled with his good behavior and other aspects, shortened his sentence by almost a decade. Shahjahan became a hangman at Dhaka Central Prison in 2001, after informing prison officials that he knew how to handle a rope. Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world that carries out death sentences by hanging, so Shahjahan Bhuiyan’s skills were valued highly.

“I had a good time,” Bhuiyan told reporters as he exited Dhaka Central Prison. “I served a prison term for a long time, but the authorities ensured my comfort and honored me.”

Among the man’s victims during his stint as executioner were Islamist leader Ali Ahsan Mujahid,  Siddique Islam, known as Bangla Bhai, an Islamist leader of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh organization, and military officers found guilty of plotting a 1975 coup and of assassinating Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader.

 

 “If I didn’t hang them, someone else would have, Shahjahan explained. “Even if I feel sympathy for them, as a convict, I have to do it. I did not order the hangings, the State ordered me to do it.”

With no family to return to and no home to call his own, the man nicknamed ‘Jallad’ (executioner), said that he would go live with a former inmate that he had befriended in prison.